Head impacts in university-level varsity cheerleading athletes: an exploratory study

Non-contact female dominant sports such as cheerleading are widely understudied when it comes to head kinematics and impacts. Increased knowledge could help address the current male-dominant literature and reduce sex-based disparities in research. This expanded understanding would also improve knowledge about the physiological effects of head impacts, including concussions, in women. The objective of this study was to characterize head impact (quantity and intensity) impacts in mixed biological sex cheerleading throughout the course of four regular season practices. A total of 23 university-level cheerleading athletes (17 females, 6 males) with a mean age of 21.70 ± 2.03 and 4.87 ± 4.59 years of cheerleading experience were included. A total of 89 impacts over the spend of four practices were compiled. The highest number of recorded head impacts for any athlete over the course of the study was 35, all occurring across three practice sessions; this total, when averaged over the time spent practicing, corresponds to an estimated rate of approximately 6.07 impacts to the head per hour of cheerleading activity. On an individual level, participants sustained an average of 1.93 ± 3.42 impacts per practice. The mean linear acceleration of recorded impacts was 14.72 ± 19.43 g, while the mean rotational acceleration was 804.71 ± 208.84 rad/s². Cheerleading athletes accumulate numerous impacts to the head during cheerleading practices, making them at risk of the detrimental effects of repeated head impacts.