It almost seems like this is from a parody news site like The Onion, but it’s not. The American Medical Association has voted at its annual meeting that cheerleading is a sport. Silly me; I already thought it was a sport. I do sports physicals for cheerleaders. I see typical sports injuries in cheerleaders, including sprains, strains, concussions, and torn ligaments. It is included in all my pediatric sports medicine books. In 2012, the American Academy of Pediatrics released specific guidelines and recommendations for children who participate in cheerleading, noting the increase in popularity, complexity, and physical demands in cheerleading today. The guidelines do recommend that cheerleading be classified as a sport by high school and college governing bodies such as the NCAA so that it will be subject to the same safety regulations, trainers, and medical staff as other sports. I suppose that this is really what the AMA is getting at. Cheerleading definitely puts the same physical demands on the bodies of children and young adults, and these athletes deserve the same care and injury prevention as those in other sports. I think, ultimately, this may be more of a policy issue; if the NCAA decides that cheerleading is a sport, it would be subject to the same complex mass of rules and regulations as other college sports. The same would be true of high school sports regulations. However, these students definitely need to have the same medical supervision and care as other athletes, regardless of whether the activity is subject to the same rules and regulations as other sports.
The AMA Decides that Cheerleading is a Sport
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