Injuries during physical education classes are on the rise, according to a story by the Associated Press.

But the increase is not due to rigorous training, but the lack of adult supervision.

Injuries to American children during physical education classes increased by 150 percent from 1997-2007, a new study finds, a possible drawback to a movement encouraging more vigorous exercise in schools.

Yet that may have less to do with lively gym programs than with lack of adult supervision, experts said. A decline in school nurses and larger class sizes could be to blame, said the study's senior author Lara McKenzie of Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.

"Children got hurt by running into equipment or having contact with structures or other persons," McKenzie said. "They had heat stroke, fainting and heart palpitations." Boys had more cuts and broken bones than girls. Girls were more likely to suffer strains and sprains....

The study, based on hospital reports of phys ed injuries, was released Monday and appears in the September edition of Pediatrics. It suggests schools should renew their efforts to make gym class safer, said Cheryl Richardson of the National Association for Sport and Physical Education in Reston, Va.

Richardson noted some school districts don't require teachers to be certified to teach phys ed, particularly at the elementary school level.

Has your child been injured during P.E.? What is your reaction to this study?

After nabbing the U.S. National Title in 1986, gymnast Jennifer Sey was on path to become the next Mary Lou Retton. Instead, she retired after years of extreme dieting and hardcore workouts on barely healed broken bones.

She has written a book about her ordeal and recently revealed the dirty secrets of the sport to Salon's Julia Wallace:

What struck me when reading your book was how incredibly hard it is to protect young gymnasts when there are so many incentives for coaches and other adults not to act in the kids' best interests.

I think this is tied to our culture as a whole and how we prioritize winning over everything else. That's why you see steroid use. It's even related to corporate malfeasance -- winning is the most important thing, so the ends justify the means. The problem is exacerbated in gymnastics, because the girls are so young that they're ripe to be taken advantage of. It doesn't happen all the time -- I was just writing about what my experience has been -- but it is a powder keg of circumstances.

Okay, here is where the interview gets good. I can't imagine her coaches not responding to these charges: