Monday, June 28, 2010

Most Dangerous Female Sport.....Cheerleading

On Friday May 14, 2010 I boarded the first Southwest Airlines flight of the day leaving Oakland for Los Angeles. Choosing the seat on the opposite side of the aisle was a familiar looking gentleman dressed in a crisp white shirt with cuff links. As we were pulling away from the gate, I finished reading a recent Daily Cal. The gentleman asked if he could check out the paper. Then it hit me.....As I turned to hand him the paper, I stated, "You're that guy." As he took paper he replied, "I Am that guy.".............It was Captain Chesley Sullenberger of Hudson River landing fame.

I arrived at the Sports Concussion Institute's Forth Annual National Summit on Concussions and Other Sports Medicine Injuries. Again, I was the only dentist present.
The morning program consisted of the following:
Emerging Clinical Solutions for Sports Concussion presented by Jeffrey Kutcher, MD
Assessment and Management of Battlefield-Induced Concussion:
Applications for Sports Concussion
presented by David F. Moore, MD, PhD, Dip PH
Guidelines for On-Field Management of Orthopedic Injuries in Youth presented by Neal S. ElAttrache, MD
An NCAA Update on the Biomechanics of Sports-Induced Concussion:
Implications for Long-Term Outcomes
presented by Kevin Guskiewicz, PhD, ATC
Keynote Address: Preparing Youth for High-Velocity Sports:
The Significance of Nutrition and Hydration
presented by Mehmood Khan, MD

The afternoon session was broken up into four concurrent tracks:
Track A: Evaluation and Treatment of Orthopedic Sports Injuries presenters were Warren Strudwick, MD, Ryan H. Kotton, MD, Larry Lemak, MD, Vernon Williams, MD
Track B: Advancing Health and Safety Outcomes Among Youth and High School Athlete Populations presenters were Gerry Gioia, PhD, Andrew Blecher, MD, Charles Flippen, MD, Barry Jordan, MD, MPH
Track C: Methods of Evaluating Concussion Outcomes Among Athlete Populations presenters were Mark Lovell, PhD, Jeffrey English, MD, Michael McCrea, PhD, Stephen Bailey, PT, PhD
Track D: Advancing Health and Safety Outcomes in Historically Female Sports presenters were Fred Mueller, PhD and Kimberly Archie, BS, Sonia Bell, MD, Anthony Alessi, MD, Terry Zeigler, EdD, ATC

I have heard Mark Lovell speak many times and am pretty well versed on his computerized neuropsychological concussion assessment software, ImPACT.
Since I am the father of a very active 4 year old daughter, I elected to take Track D: Advancing Health and Safety Outcomes in Historically Female Sports. I learned a startling fact, Cheerleading is the most dangerous female sport. Between 1982 and 2008 there were 73 catastrophic injuries in cheerleading, including two deaths. An injury is deemed catastrophic if it causes permanent spinal injury and paralysis. In the same time period, there were only nine catastrophic injuries in gymnastics, four in basketball and two in soccer.