Athletico Health Resources

Summer sports are in full swing! Baseball and softball seasons are thriving, and off-season prep for fall sports like football, cross country, and volleyball is ramping up. With how busy youth athletics have become, many young athletes juggle multiple teams and training programs throughout the summer. While this high activity level can be exciting and rewarding, it also increases the risk for overuse injuries. Taking proactive steps toward injury prevention is more important than ever.

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Rhythmic gymnastics is a sport where athletes combine dance, tumbling, and the use of an apparatus to perform high-level athletic routines. Rhythmic gymnasts require extreme flexibility. They also need strength to perform their leaps, turns, holds, and acrobatic skills. Weightlifting is a common way that many athletes build strength. However, in the rhythmic gymnastics world, weightlifting has mixed thoughts. Historically, gymnasts have a desire for a certain body type. They may avoid weightlifting to avoid “bulking” up. Rhythmic gymnasts indeed need to maintain flexibility to perform their skills. However, strengthening should be an important component of their overall training program.

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Golf is a sport that combines precision, power, and mobility, especially in the shoulders. The ball- and-socket joint (glenohumeral joint) and the upper back (scapulothoracic joint and thoracic spine) need full flexibility. This is true for the end of your back swing and without no restrictions all the way into your follow- through. Tightness or weakness in these areas can lead to poor swing mechanics, reduced range of motion, and even injury over time.

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Pickleball is a fun, low-impact sport. Stretching before and after playing pickleball is important for injury prevention and flexibility. Let’s look at different types of stretching, when they should be used, and how to target specific areas of the body to keep you on your game – in the game!

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Cheerleading is a very popular sport for school teams and competition all-star teams. All-star teams are comprised of various ages, and they can be co-ed, and practice multiple days per week for competitions. As with any sport, cheerleading comes with a risk of injury. There are general trends for cheer-related injuries depending on the athlete’s role on the team: base vs. flyer.

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Pickleball is a great, low-impact sport for people of all ages that has become vastly popular in recent years. Pickleball is similar to tennis, however, it is played on specific courts with a different style paddle, ball, and rules. Pickleball offers a variety of health benefits for its players in addition to being a fun activity for many people.

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Co-author: Megan Partain, SPT

Have you ever wondered how your favorite cheerleaders spend hours tumbling, stunting, and holding each other up in the air? Well, in cheerleading, it comes down to a little more than just sheer talent but incredibly strong and stable shoulders. Athletes with decreased shoulder strength are prone to injuries like dislocations, sprains, and strains. Current research suggests that regular shoulder strengthening exercises can help prevent these types of injuries. The following exercises are recommended for tumblers and especially indicated for main and instep bases, as well as back spots.

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Gymnastics, the sport most watched in the Summer Olympics, engages viewers because of the extreme strength, balance, agility, accuracy, and endurance required to compete. Years of training tax the gymnast’s body to the utmost because movement refinement through repetition exposes the gymnast to many repetitive stress and traumatic injuries. While gymnasts range from the 5-year-old tumbler to the elite Olympian, a unique factor for this sport, no matter the level, is the requirement of using arms for weight bearing. Such compressive and twisting forces affect the entire arm, especially the wrist. Approximately 88% of gymnasts reportedly experience wrist pain according to one study.

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