Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Cheerleading Injuries have more than doubled in past 12 years

... because this blog will always make a little room for cheerleaders in an effort to determine if the cute sweatermonkeys are really dancers who've gone retarded...

CHICAGO - Cheerleaders catapult in the air, climb human pyramids and catch their tumbling teammates as they fall to the ground. They also make lots of emergency room visits.

Research indicates cheerleading injuries more than doubled from 1990 through 2002, while participation grew just 18 percent over the same period.

"Cheerleading is not what it used to be. It's no longer standing on the sidelines looking cute in a skirt," said Erin Brooks, a former cheerleader who teaches a safety course in Mississippi. "It's more body skills."

A study published Tuesday in the journal Pediatrics estimates 208,800 young people ages 5 to 18 were treated at U.S. hospitals for cheerleading-related injures during the 13-year period. Most of the injuries were suffered by 12- to 17-year-olds; nearly 40 percent were leg, ankle and foot injuries.


Where was this study, is it still going on, and how can I volunteer? Cheerleaders shouldn't have to go through this kind of trauma without a little extra support.