The Los Angeles Times recently posted an interesting article by Thomas Maugh on the inherent dangers of young women participating in cheerleading as opposed to sports:
Which is more dangerous for girls: sports or cheerleading?
“While Title 9 has increased the participation of young women in high school and college sports, it has done nothing to address the most serious source of catastrophic injuries for young women — cheerleading.
“Data from the Consumer Products Safety Commission show that the number of catastrophic injuries — those involving death or disability caused by head or spine trauma — have grown from fewer than 5,000 in 1980 to 26,000 to 28,000 per year in the last few years, according to Dr. Amy Miller Bohn, a family medicine specialist at the University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor. According to the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research, cheerleading accidents account for 65% to 66% of all female catastrophic sports injuries in high school and college. . .”
[...] with any other athletic endeavour, participation runs the risk of injury. The dangers of cheerleading are reaching national media outlets. When more education institutions recognize cheerleading as a [...]
[...] cheerleading team are no longer required for the ‘Spirit Squad’. Recent reports have cited the dangers of cheerleading. For years, there have been anecdotal accounts of injuries and some incidents resulting in death. [...]
[...] As cheerleading is becoming recognized as a sport, more data are being reported about the safety issues and injuries involved. The educational institutions that do consider that cheerleading is a sports have coaches and [...]