AURORA, Colo., Dec. 10 (UPI) -- While injuries happen to cheerleaders far less often than in other sports, the severity of those injuries can be much worse because of the jumping, throwing and flying that is inherent in the sport.
The statistics show rates of injuries as far lower than other sports, however researchers suggest some injuries to cheerleaders could be avoided with more awareness.
Considering cheerleading as a sport brings with it requirements for appropriately safe practice venues and equipment. However many consider it a school activity, leaving dangers in place.
"Our research shows that at the national level in terms of typical day-to-day sports participation cheerleading is not particularly dangerous and appears perhaps to be even safer than other sports," Dustin Currie, a doctoral candidate at the Colorado School of Public Health, told CBS News.
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Researchers reviewed statistics collected as part of the National High School Sports-Related Injury Surveillance Study from 2009 through 2014, finding injury rates in cheerleading ranked 18th out of 22 sports analyzed with an overall injury rate of 0.71 per 1,000 athlete exposures.
Injury rates were higher for cheerleaders in competition and practice -- 0.85 per 1,000 exposures and 0.76 per 1,000 exposures -- than for performance, where they were 0.49 per 1,000.
Concussions were the most common injury, representing 31.1 percent of injuries, followed by ligament sprains at 20.2 percent, muscle strains at 14.2 percent and fractures at 10.3 percent. Just over half the injuries happened during stunts -- 20 percent from tumbling and 10.8 percent pyramids.
While not all injuries can be avoided, researchers said some could likely be avoided if cheerleading were considered a sport, rather than an activity, at more schools.
"There's a certain infrastructure that goes along with the sport categorization as opposed to the activity categorization," Currie said, referring to practices held in parking lots and school hallways. "These are spaces not meant for athletic practice activity. We believe that providing the same safety infrastructure for cheerleaders as are provided for every other sport would likely reduce the injury risk."
The study is published in the journal Pediatrics.
