Dangers of Cheerleading

(source:http://www.genyration.com)

The risk of cheerleading was highlighted when Kristi Yamaoka, a cheerleader for Southern Illinois University, suffered from a fractured vertebra after she hit her head after falling from a human pyramid. She also suffered from a concussion, and a bruised lung. The fall occurred when Yamaoka lost her balance during a basketball game between Southern Illinois University and Bradley University at the Savvis Center in St. Louis on March 5, 2006.The fall gained "national attention", because Yamaoka continued to perform from a stretcher as she was moved away from the game. The cheerleader has since made a full recovery.

The accident caused the Missouri Valley Conference to ban its member schools from allowing cheerleaders to be "launched or tossed and from taking part in formations higher than two levels" for one week during a women's basketball conference tournament, and also resulted in a recommendation by the NCAA that conferences and tournaments do not allow pyramids two and one half levels high or higher, and a stunt known as basket tosses, during the rest of the men's and women's basketball season. On July 11, 2006, the bans were made permanent by the AACCA rules committee:

The committee unanimously voted for sweeping revisions to cheerleading safety rules, the most major of which restricts specific upper-level skills during basketball games. Basket tosses, 2½ high pyramids, one-arm stunts, stunts that involve twisting or flipping, and twisting tumbling skills may only be performed during halftime and post-game on a matted surface and are prohibited during game play or time-outs.

However, there have been far worse catastrophes in the world of cheerleading. Last October,[clarification needed] at Los Angeles' John Marshall High School, 17 year-old Patty Phommanyvong became a comatose quadriplegic as the result of a fall to the ground. Eighteen year-old Jessica Smith suffered a fractured back and neck after hitting the ground during practice at Sacramento City College in California. Most tragically, 20 year-old Lauren Chang died in April 2008 from being kicked in the chest at a cheerleading competition in Worcester, Massachusetts. There was also the 2005 case of Ashley Burns who, at 14 years old, ruptured her spleen. This occurred when she landed stomach down while practicing an airborne spin with her high school cheerleading squad.

Out of the nation's 2.9 million female high school athletes, only 3% are cheerleaders, yet cheerleading accounts for 65% of all catastrophic injuries in girls' high school athletics. Since the NCAA has yet to recognize cheerleading as an official college sport, there are no solid numbers on college cheerleading, yet when it comes to injuries, 67% of female athlete injuries at the college level are due to cheerleading mishaps.

Cheerleading is now considered one of the most dangerous school activities. The main source of injuries comes from stunting, also known as pyramids. These stunts are performed at games and pep rallies, as well as competitions. Sometimes competition routines are focused solely around the use of difficult and risky stunts. These stunts usually include a flier (the girl on top), along with one, two, three, or four bases (the girls or boys on the bottom). The most common cheerleading related injuries are: back injuries, sprained ankles, head injuries (sometimes concussions), broken arms, elbow injuries, and knee injuries.

The Pediatrics journal reported that the number of cheerleaders suffering from broken bones, concussions, and sprains has increased by over 100 percent between the years of 1990 and 2002. In 2001 there were 25,000 hospital visits reported for cheerleading injuries dealing with the shoulder, ankle, head, and neck.

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