Daily Dose of Common Sense

Many parents are reluctant to let their children play intense contact sports, such as tackle football, for fear of serious injury. Now, new statistics have revealed that cheerleading should also give parents serious pause. It is the leading cause of catastrophic injuries in young women.

Most accidents are still the muscle pull, strained ankle variety. However, cheerleading accounts for 60-66% of all catastrophic accidents in high school and college-aged girls. This includes head and spine trauma, which can leave the patient with life-long disabilities.

If you’ve seen a cheerleading competition recently, this information should come as no surprise.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XQWWe5Yp_o

Yes, this is now what cheerleading has become: throwing girls up in the air plus a high level of tumbling difficulty on hard surfaces while trying to remember frenetic choreography and avoid a man wearing a super large hat. (In this video, even the announcer comments on the unforgiving surface.)

Take into account the statistics. Educate yourself on the risks and know what your daughter could be getting herself into. It’s one thing to sprain your ankle; it’s another to be paralyzed for life.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 3rd, 2009 at 9:49 pm and is filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.