There are about half a million high school cheerleaders in the United States.  Studies have shown that high participation in the activity, coupled with its year-round nature, lead to a higher total number of concussions in cheerleading than in many other sports. USA Cheer and the AACCA are partnering with the CDC to raise awareness about concussion in cheer.

The linked article contains some great links to information for parents and Return To Play resources for coaches:

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/spirit-and-safety-meet-in-new-cdc-heads-up-concussion-in-youth-sports-partnership-125560883.html

Research initiatives to make players safer on and off the field have been in development for the past decade at many universities, including Wake Forest University, UNC Chapel Hill and Virginia Tech. All have worked on the development of helmet sensor technology to help detect traumatic head injuries, as they happen.  However, not everyone thinks helmet sensors are the answer to preventing head injuries.

"Helmets are not going to prevent concussions," said Dr. Fred Mueller, director of the National Center for Sports Injury Research at UNC Chapel Hill. "If you had an athletic trainer in every high school and middle school in the state, it would help a lot. The problem is the funding is just not there."

Read more: http://www2.journalnow.com/news/2011/jul/11/wsmet01-researchers-creating-a-safer-helmet-ar-1195836/

A study published Monday in the journal Pediatrics examined the National Registry of Sudden Death in Young Athletes (a database maintained by the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation) focuses on deaths from blunt trauma among players 21 and younger.

A key finding was the worrisome number of prep football players who died of head and neck blows after they had already sustained concussions a few days or up to a month beforehand.

The chairman of the Council on Sports, Medicine and Fitness of the American Academy of Pediatrics said the study "gives credence to everything we've been trying to do to make it safer for young athletes out there with proper treatment of concussions.

Pediatrics abstract:

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2011/06/16/peds.2010-2743.abstract

News article:

http://www.mydesert.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011106220383

SportsConcussion.org features the story of an all-star athlete struggling with post-concussion syndrome.  Symptoms can linger – in this case, for over a year – if concussed students don't get adequate cognitive and physical rest:

Looking back, Neal said, "I shouldn't have fought through the symptoms like I did in the beginning. I should have immediately reduced my classes because I probably did myself more harm than good by trying to power though. I didn't realize what a difference cognitive rest really made."

Successful (again) at Brown: http://www.sportsconcussions.org/feature-stories-Neal-Rooney-post-concussion-syndrome.html