Cheerleading is by far the most dangerous role for female athletes, yet girls who suffer concussions often don’t recognize that they’re injured, a new study found.
The study of junior and senior high-school cheerleaders found that 37 percent had symptoms of a concussion but failed to report them.
The research, published in the Journal of Pediatrics, noted a sharp increase of hospital emergency visits by cheerleaders, from 4,954 in 1980 to 26,786 in 2007.