National Cheerleading Safety Month
By Christina Eichelkraut
August is National Cheerleading Safety Month, when the competitive cheerleading community focuses on injury prevention practices, safety awareness and ensuring cheerleaders and their support staff have current health and safety training and certifications.
As brain injury survivor advocates, BIAAZ knows there’s a lot to cheer about when it comes to this national designation.
The theme for this year’s Cheerleading Safety Month is “Do Your Part” and helps everyone who supports competitive cheerleaders.
National Cheerleading Safety Month
By Christina Eichelkraut
August is National Cheerleading Safety Month, when the competitive cheerleading community focuses on injury prevention practices, safety awareness and ensuring cheerleaders and their support staff have current health and safety training and certifications.
As brain injury survivor advocates, BIAAZ knows there’s a lot to cheer about when it comes to this national designation.
The theme for this year’s Cheerleading Safety Month is “Do Your Part” and helps everyone who supports competitive cheerleaders.
The dangers of cheerleading are often overlooked since it is not a contact sport. The skill, athleticism, and discipline – and yes, risk of bodily injury – it takes to be a successful competitive cheerleader, from elementary school through college, is nonetheless undeniable.
Inexplicably, competitive cheerleading is not considered a sanctioned sport by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). In addition to that making Title IX inapplicable to cheerleaders and cheerleading events, it also means there are less official safety rules and guidelines governing the sport.
Recognized or not, the lack of official designation doesn’t change the fact cheerleaders have an even higher chance of concussion than gymnasts. Concussions are the most common injury in cheerleading which, given the stunts cheerleaders perform, is no surprise. Over 96 percent of cheerleading injuries are stunt related.
A research review published in The Orthopedic Journal of Sports Medicine bluntly states, “Previous studies have reported on the epidemiological patterns of injuries associated with cheerleading and how such aesthetic sports affect the body, finding that fractures and concussions are prevalent and that catastrophic injuries are more common than in most other sports.”
The good news is there has been more discussion about making cheerleading safer in recent years. Some guidance includes having cheerleaders wear helmets, at least during practice (obviously our favorite recommendation) and using safety mats at games.
The theme for this year’s Cheerleading Safety Month is “Do Your Part” and helps everyone who supports competitive cheerleaders – parents, coaches, trainers, administrators, volunteers and others – understand the role they play in keeping cheerleaders safe.
Christina Eichelkraut is a recovering print journalist who founded Christina Copy Co. in 2011. When her keyboard isn’t clacking, she bakes complex artisan bread, nerds out on political science, uses her fountain pens to write to pen pals the world over, and reads long past her bedtime in a joyful disregard of her alleged adulthood. Christina earned her B.A. in Mass Communications with an emphasis in print journalism in 2006 from Franklin Pierce University.
ABOUT BRAIN INJURY ASSOCIATION OF ARIZONA
The Brain Injury Association of Arizona (BIAAZ) is the only statewide nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of adults and children with all types of brain injuries through prevention, advocacy, awareness and education. BIAAZ also houses the Arizona Brain Health Resource Center, a collection of educational information and neuro-specific resources for brain injury survivors, caregivers, family members and professionals.
What began in 1983 as a grassroots effort has grown into a strong statewide presence, providing valuable life-long resources and community support for individuals with all types of brain trauma at no charge.