Updated September 29, 2014.

It's not just cheers and shaking pom poms anymore! It is no secret that cheerleading can be a dangerous sport. In 1980, there were approximately 5,000 injuries from cheerleading. In recent years, this number has soared to approximately 28,000 injuries. Cheerleading is the cause of most major and catastrophic injuries in high school and college. Catastrophic injuries include back or spine injury that leads to disability and death.

Cheerleading stunts have become bigger and more extravagant. This means they have become more dangerous, and the injury statistics back this up. What is a parent to do?

Basic Cheerleading Safety Tips

Your cheerleader might not be thinking about safety, but you – as the parent – need to be. A few basic safety tips can help your teen safe.

• A qualified coach and staff is key. Does the coach have training in cheerleading? What does the coach know about keeping cheerleaders safe? Has the coach had first aid and CPR training? A knowledgeable coach who understands both the sport and its dangers is essential.
  
  
• Your teen needs appropriate shoes and clothes. Cheerleaders should wear rubber soled sneakers for cheerleading practice and events. These provide cushioning for their feet and knees. Rubber soles also help to prevent slipping and falling. Adequately warm clothes for cold weather and cool, breathable clothes for hot weather are also important to prevent cold or heat related illnesses.
  
  
• Practices and events should be held in a safe environment. Practices or event should not be held on a hard surface of tricks or stunts are being performed. Macadam, gym floors, asphalt, wet surfaces, and uneven surfaces are all inappropriate places for cheerleading stunts to be performed. Additionally, any cheerleading stunts should be done only during a break in the sporting event. Because many sporting events use some sort of ball or projectile, it is not safe to perform a cheerleading stunt if there is the risk of the ball going out of play and disrupting the stunt.
  
  

• Cheerleaders at practices and events where stunts are being performed should always be supervised by a coach or other qualified personnel. Coaches can help to instruct the teens as to how to practice a skill correctly. They can also discourage risky stunts or behavior.
  
  
• Before practices or events, each cheerleader should stretch and warm up to help prevent injury.
  
  
• Each cheerleader should have a minimal level of physical strength and conditioning. This will help to protect the cheerleader performing the stunt by ensuring that everyone involved in the stunt is strong enough to perform as required.
  
  
• The coach must know what each individual cheerleader's skill level is, and allow stunts and activities accordingly. If a cheerleader is not up to the challenge of performing or supporting a stunt, then that teen should not be involved in it – period.
  
  
• If, as a parent, you think that a stunt is too dangerous, you have the right to speak up. If you don't feel as if you want your teen participating in particular stunts, address the coach. The research clearly shows that the rate of catastrophic injury is related to the increase of stunts as part of the sport. If you are not comfortable with something, you have the right to say so and to protect your teen. Your cheerleader may be mad, but you might be protecting her from serious and life-long disability.

For more advanced guidelines for cheerleading safety, check out the American Association of Cheerleading Coaches and Administrators website at http://www.aacca.org/.

<sub>Sources:

2009-2010 AACCA College Safety Rules. American Association of Cheerleading Coaches and Administrators. August 12, 2009. http://www.aacca.org/content.aspx?item=Safety/0910collegerules.xml

Cheerleading is leading cause of catastrophic injury in young women. University of Michigan Health System. August 12, 2009. http://www2.med.umich.edu/prmc/media/newsroom/details.cfm?ID=1237</sub>