Did you know cheerleading is one of the sports with the highest number of injuries and cheerleaders require a longer time for recovery compared to other sports?  The reason for this is that cheerleaders use all of their extremities. An injury as small as a sprained finger can put a cheerleader out of action for weeks, where a football player can tape it up and keep playing.

Is cheerleading a sport? According to the National Center for Catostrophic Sports Injury Research, cheerleading injuries accounted for more than half of all catastrophic injuries sustained by female high school and college athletes? The total for all of the combined sports did not equal that of cheerleading. Cheerleading is also more demanding than most other male and female sports because there is no offseason. Most high school sports including football, basketball and volleyball have seasons lasting only 3-4 months. Cheerleading by contrast has a season starting with summer camp and usually ending in March or April, with skills training taking place almost year round! That is at least twice the length of other sports!

Over 70% of all cheerleading injuries are strains, sprains, and bruises.  Read more about these and similar stories below.

Pompoms, Pyramids and Peril (NY Times)

Cheerleading Injuries on the Rise (ABC News)

Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics- Too many Pediatric Trampoline Injuries

Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics- Cheerleading- Related Injuries to Children 5-18 Years of Age: United States, 1990-1992

Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics- Pediatric Sport-Related Concussion: A Review of the Clinical Management of an Oft- Neglected Population