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.
