MIDLAND, Va. - As high school and college students take a break for the summer, some school athletes are using that time to heal injuries sustained during the year.

A new study out this week shows cheerleaders are feeling the pain more than most athletes, as the rate of emergency room visits for cheerleaders is up almost nine percent.

Sixteen-year-old Heather Huntington is no stranger to bruises earned from cheerleading. "Yeah, I had one the other day," she said. "Where'd it go?"

She's also faced the more serious injuries -- once a concussion from a fall and later hurting her knee while tumbling. "The one on my knee, I was tumbling during practice and it just [kind of] hyperextended because I landed with my leg straight," she said.

Huntington's are just a few of the tens of thousands of injuries reported by cheerleaders last year. "It's no, really, not much different than any other sport. Everything has its inherent injuries," said Diane Huntington, the girl's mother.

While not every school or state sees it that way, a new study from the National Cheer Safety Foundation says because of the injuries that can happen during the activity, the NCAA should classify cheerleading as sport. That way, they'd have to follow the same safety rules as other sports.

Some teams say they avoid accidents as best they can by following guidelines and making sure coaches are trained and certified in the sport.

"The days of the rah-rah cheer are over. These kids are doing very advanced stunts," said Jon Almquist, an athletic training administrator.

The study shows that between 1982 and 2008, high school female athletes had 39 severe or catastrophic injuries -- cheerleading had 73, accounting for more than 65-percent of all female catastrophic injuries.

"If we could count them as Title 9 numbers that would be another benefit to this overall concern and perhaps then more funding could be addressed, more issues could be addressed with regard to the injuries," said Almquist.

Another alarming statistic from the study shows ER visits for cheerleaders 13 years old and younger increased 110-percent in 2008. 

The National Cheer Safety Foundation wants Congress to take a look at these injury numbers to help push stricter rules.

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