Concussions and Children - Important Things to Remember

It is important to protect our children against concussions and the effects of these injuries. In order to do this, we must know as much as possible.

The following are important things to remember:

- A sudden acceleration or deceleration of the brain within the skull can cause a concussion or brain injury.

- A person does not have to lose consciousness to have sustained a concussion.

- Being unable to recall recent events prior to or following a concussion is one of the symptoms of an injury.

- A child cannot return to playing the game after a concussion with only the approval of their parents. He or she should be immediately removed from the game, be evaluated by a physician and not be allowed to return until after he/she has received medical clearance to do so.

- The child should be monitored for at least two hours following a suspected concussion.

- A child should be kept awake for about two hours following a concussion; not the twenty-four hours that was originally considered to be necessary.

- Anyone suffering from a concussion should not read, text, play video games or go on the computer.

- They should wear sunglasses when outside in the bright light and if nouise is a problem, should wear earplugs.

- If they are a teenager or young adult, they should not drive following a concussion and should try to avoid all stimulation.

- Let a physician know if the child is more emotional than normal or if there is a sudden sleep problem. It is important to monitor all symptoms.

- Multiple concussions can increase the time it takes for someone to recover and can in all likelihood create long-term problems.

- Symptoms can appear immediately or not until a few hours or even days following the event.

- It will be important to avoid physically and mentally demanding activities following a concussion.

- If a teenager or young adult, he/she should avoid alcohol or drug use.

- All activities should be returned to gradually.

- It will be important to get plenty of sleep.

- Almost half of all concussions are not recognized or diagnosed by coaches or even physicians. Following a suspected concusion, there should be neurocognitive testing done to determine the extent of the injury and as a guide for follow-up monitoring.

- Each player suspected of sustaining a concussion must be diagnosed individually by a properly trained health care professional.

- All parents, coaches and officials should be familiar with concussion protocols.

The reason it is so important for a young child or teenager to rest both physically and mentally following a concussion is the brain's vulnerability to even minor jolts. For children who don't rest, the possibility of 'second impact syndrome' increases. This can possibly cause the brain to swell which may severely disable a child.

The more we understand concussions, the better able we are to protect our children against life-long problems as a result of them.