BOSTON -- Cheerleading has become one of the most dangerous school activities. NewsCenter 5's Liz Brunner reported Tuesday on the dramatic increase in cheering injuries.

Cheerleading Dangers Reported

Cheerleaders jump at the chance to compete, and often perform difficult tasks to win.

"I love the competition, the adrenaline rush," said Samantha Toto, 17, of Revere, Mass. "We're grand national champions," she said.

But as cheerleading has become more popular and competitive, new research shows injuries have increased dramatically.

"Two-thirds of all sporting injuries in women in high school and college are due to cheerleading injuries," said Dr. Brian Grottkau, the chief of pediatric orthopedics at MassGeneral Hospital.

Grottkau said 16,000 girls are hurt every year cheerleading. New data from the University of North Carolina's National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research found cheerleaders suffer more injuries than all other athletes combined - about 65 percent of severe injuries on the high school level.

In 2005, Ashley Burns, of Medford, Mass., died after rupturing her spleen during practice. Last April, Lauren Chang, of Newton, Mass., died when she was accidentally kicked in the chest during competition. Toto knew both girls.

"You can fall and get hurt, and people don't know how to catch you most of the time," she said.

Toto has been cheerleading for about 10 years. She is recovering from two operations, after injuring her knee during difficult stunts.

"I was doing a full and when I landed my knee popped out," she said.

Grottkau is Toto's doctor. He has seen girls, like Toto, come into his office with multiple injuries from cheerleading, such as cervical spine injuries, abdominal injuries, knee and ankle injuries, as well as broken bones. He blames the injury increase on popularity, risky stunts, and a lack of rules.

"Given that it's not considered a sport. There is no guarantee a cheerleading team will have an athletic trainer to watch over injuries or potential injuries. There is no guarantee that they'll have the appropriate safety gear such as mats," Grottkau said.

Before practice begins, it's up to parents to make sure their kids are safe.

"Research their coaches to assess their level of training to check on whether they're certified instructors for cheerleading and insure that there's a written safety plan in place for their child if there's an injury," he said.