The Sports Concussion Institute, located in Los Angeles, California, hosted the Fourth Annual Summit on Sports Concussion and Other Athletic Injuries Friday, May 14th, 2010. The purpose of the summit was to “advance current prevention, assessment, treatment research, scientific evidence and education” to all those with an interest in understanding sports-induced concussion.
One of the panel breakout sessions of the conference focused on advancing health and safety outcomes in historically female sports. It was the first time a breakout session focused specifically on issues related to females and sports medicine.
Panel of Experts Assembled on Reducing Catastrophic Injuries in Cheerleading
This year, speakers from across the country were invited to present on the topic of preventing catastrophic injuries in the sport of cheerleading. Leading the breakout session was the nationally renowned researcher and director of the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research from the University of North Carolina, Dr. Fred Mueller, MD.
Dr. Mueller was one of the original author’s of the 25th Annual Catastrophic Injury Report that initially brought national media attention to the dangers of the sport of cheerleading. Presenting alongside Dr. Mueller was Ms. Kimberly Archie, the director of the National Cheer and Safety Foundation (NCSF).
Ms. Archie founded NCSF after her young daughter sustained a serious injury while practicing stunts with her cheerleading team.
While Dr. Mueller presented the statistics on the number of catastrophic injuries in the sport of cheerleading over the past 25 years (athletes in cheerleading sustained 73 catastrophic injuries while all other female sports had numbers in the single digits), Ms. Archie spoke about the evolution of cheerleading from a sideline sport to a competitive tumbling/stunting gymnastics-based team.
Ms. Archie also spoke candidly about the personal stories of young women whose lives have been forever altered due to catastrophic injuries sustained while they were practicing or competing in cheerleading.
Dr. Sonia Bell, MD, Director of Avanti Sports Medicine and Fitness and Team Physician for the United States Track and Field program, spoke about the most common orthopedic injuries in the sport of cheerleading and focused on injuries sustained to the wrist, knee, and ankle.
Dr. Anthony Alessi, MD, well-known Neurosurgeon and Associate Clinical Professor of Neurology at the University of Connecticut, also added his expertise to the panel as well as moderated the session.
Risk Factors Involved in Catastrophic Injuries in Cheerleading
Last, Dr. Terry Zeigler, EdD, ATC, Professor in Kinesiology and Certified Athletic Trainer, rounded out the session and presented on the current risk factors involved in the increase in catastrophic injuries in the sport of cheerleading along with some new trends to make the sport safer for those involved. These risk factors included:
- unqualified coaches
- improper supervision and progression of cheerleaders performing advanced stunts
- lack of emergency action plans/first aid/CPR training by head coaches
- performance of stunts on hard surfaces (gym floors, grass, dirt, rubberized track, artificial turf)
- evolution of cheerleading from a sideline “pep squad” to a competitive stunt-based competitive cheer team without a corresponding evolution of safety rules
Recommendations to Improve Safety Outcomes in Cheerleading
All panelists agreed that the culture of cheerleading needs to change with the focus of all those involved in the cheerleading industry moving towards a new paradigm of "safety first." To that end, the following recommendations for safety outcomes came out of the session:
- Move to recognize competitive cheerleading as a sport.
- Regulate the sport of cheerleading and sanction coaches and programs that do not follow current safety rules.
- Safety train and certify all competitive cheer coaches through rigorous certification programs.
- Ensure that programs without certified coaches and without access to appropriate safety mats keep their feet on the floor.
- Require that Emergency Action Plans be implemented and practiced in all competitive cheer programs.
- Revise current National Federation of State High School Association’s and American Association of Cheerleading Coaches Administrators’ Spirit rulebooks to reflect the new data on “critical height” research recently published in the Journal of Athletic Training.
As one speaker put it, "changing the culture of cheerleading is like trying to stop a tidal wave with a bucket". According to neurosurgeon, Dr. Alessi, push for change needs to start with the parents whose daughters are participating in the sport of cheerleading.
Parents can team with sports medicine professionals and help change the culture of cheerleading by not supporting cheer programs and camps that do not follow basic safety principles and by supporting those programs and camps that advocate for safety first through the use of certified coaches and access to safety mats.
References:
Aacaa.org. "High School Safety Rules 2007-2008". (accessed July 15, 2009).
Mueller, F., and Cantu, R. (August 19, 2008). National Center for Catastrophic Injury: 25th Annual Report. University of North Carolina.
Nationalcheersafety.com. "Press Release: Experts Call for Congressional Hearing on Cheer Injuries." (accessed June 29, 2009).
National Federation of State High School Associations (2009). Spirit Rules Book 2009-2010. NFHS: Indianapolis, IN.
Shields, B. & Smith, G. (November, 2009). The Potential for Brain Injury on Selected Surfaces Used by Cheerleaders. Journal of Athletic Training 44(6).
Sportsmd.com. "Preventing Catastrophic Injuries in Cheerleading". (accessed May 10, 2010).
The Concussion Institute. (May 14, 2010). The Fourth Annual Summit on Sports Concussion and Other Athletic Injuries. Los Angeles, CA.
Terry Zeigler - Educating through writing with over twenty-five years of experience as a Kinesiology Professor and Certified Athletic Trainer.
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