Cheerleaders are risking serious injury and death to support their teams

New research shows that cheerleaders, who once dazzled with their smiles and sequins, are at greater risk of serious injury than American football players.

Instead of just cheering on their team, cheerleaders are now encouraged to compete in high-stress competitions, where dangerous throws and tumbles reminiscent of gymnastics are the norm.

Because the pastime is not regulated like a sport, accidents are common and cheerleaders are swapping their pom poms for crutches, knee braces and ice packs.

Campaign groups, horrified by a growing incidence of "catastrophic injuries" which have left cheerleaders with disabilities, paralysis and even dead, are fighting to clean up the "sport", where many school coaches do not have the necessary safety training.

Figures collated by the National Centre for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research found that between 1982 and last year, 67 young women suffered devastating injuries or death, which accounts for two out of three of all serious sporting injuries among young women.

The incidence of injuries causing paralysis or disability was 2.68 per 100,000 cheerleaders, which eclipses the figure for American football, where there are more fatalities but a lower ratio of injuries to participants.

The number of cheerleaders treated at hospital accident and emergency wards increased from under 5,000 a year in 1980 to nearly 30,000 a year today.