My Child Has a Sports-Related Concussion. Now What?

A bas­ket­ball to the head, a fall from a cheer­lead­ing pyra­mid, a tack­le to the ground – there are end­less ways sports can result in injuries to their head.

If your child hurts their head, they may have a con­cus­sion. Con­cus­sions are mild trau­mat­ic brain injuries (TBIs). They occur when some­thing shakes or jolts your body (usu­al­ly an impact to your head or body) that caus­es your brain to move back and forth. Con­cus­sions don’t actu­al­ly dam­age the struc­tures in the brain, but they can alter how the brain functions. 

The good news is that, as scary as a brain injury sounds, most con­cus­sions aren’t emer­gen­cies and do not require a trip to the emer­gency room. The not-so-good news is that some con­cus­sions are emer­gen­cies, and they can be very seri­ous or become life-threat­en­ing if they aren’t treat­ed right away. That’s why it’s so impor­tant to take every con­cus­sion seriously.

Here are answers to com­mon ques­tions about sports concussions. 

How Do I Know if My Child Has a Concussion?

There are many dif­fer­ent signs of a con­cus­sion, and some are much more obvi­ous than others.

After your child gets injured, mon­i­tor them for symp­toms such as:

• Seem­ing stunned or dazed
• Slurred speech
• Vom­it­ing
• Ask­ing the same ques­tions repeat­ed­ly and answer­ing ques­tions slowly
• Loss of con­scious­ness (even briefly) or seizures
• Behav­ior, mood, or per­son­al­i­ty changes
• Dif­fi­cul­ty recall­ing events before or after the injury

Since not all signs are obvi­ous, and you might not be around your child all the time, it’s impor­tant to loop your child in. Ask them if they are expe­ri­enc­ing symp­toms such as:

• Decreased appetite 
• Headache or pres­sure in their head
• Dizzi­ness or dif­fi­cul­ty balancing
• Vision changes
• Con­fu­sion
• Prob­lems with mem­o­ry or concentration
• Sleep prob­lems, like trou­ble falling or stay­ing asleep or sleep­ing more or less than usual
• Feel­ing hazy, fog­gy, grog­gy, or sluggish
• Gen­er­al­ly not feel­ing ​“right”

Symp­toms usu­al­ly start right after an injury, but they can some­times start hours or even a few days later.

Are the Symp­toms of Con­cus­sions Dif­fer­ent in Young Children?

Younger chil­dren often have sim­i­lar symp­toms, but they’re not always able to notice that some­thing is wrong or express how they feel. Pay extra close atten­tion after an injury and be on the look­out for symp­toms, such as:

• A blank stare
• Being unusu­al­ly cranky or irritable
• Cry­ing or fuss­ing more than usual
• Sud­den changes in sleep­ing patterns
• Being tired at unusu­al times or get­ting tired easily
• Vom­it­ing
• Walk­ing unsteadily
• Refusal to eat
• Loss of inter­est in their favorite toys

Does My Child Need to Go to the Emer­gency Room?

Not all con­cus­sions war­rant a trip to the emer­gency room. In many cas­es, your child will ben­e­fit more from mak­ing an appoint­ment with a sports med­i­cine or con­cus­sion spe­cial­ist. How­ev­er, there are cer­tain sit­u­a­tions when it’s crit­i­cal to get care ASAP.

Get your child emer­gency care right away after a head injury if they have: 

• Loss of consciousness
• Seizures
• Headaches that get dra­mat­i­cal­ly worse in a short peri­od of time
• Sig­nif­i­cant drowsi­ness or confusion
• Per­sis­tent nau­sea or vomiting
• Numb­ness, weak­ness, or reduced coordination
• Dif­fi­cul­ty rec­og­niz­ing peo­ple or places
• A seri­ous neck injury
• Vision or eye changes, like enlarged pupils
• Slurred speech
• Blood or flu­id com­ing out of the ears or nose
• Large bumps or bruis­es on their head

A Word From Our Provider

“Con­cus­sions in young ath­letes are being diag­nosed at high­er rates than in pre­vi­ous gen­er­a­tions. This is most­ly due to coach­es, par­ents, ref­er­ees, and health­care providers doing a bet­ter job of iden­ti­fy­ing these injuries. 

As a Duly physi­cian, my goal is to help man­age these injuries in a safe and evi­dence-based man­ner through­out the heal­ing process. Togeth­er, we can help your child min­i­mize the risk of future injury and con­fi­dent­ly return to sports and nor­mal activities.”

– Gar­rett Kawashima, DO

Has your child had a minor con­cus­sion, and you need guid­ance on recov­ery? Our sports med­i­cine spe­cial­ists and imme­di­ate care providers can assess their symp­toms, answer your ques­tions, and cre­ate a per­son­al­ized plan to help them heal safe­ly. Call 1−630−469−9200 to sched­ule with one of our sports med­i­cine providers or click below to find an imme­di­ate care cen­ter near you.

Find Imme­di­ate Care near you >

Who Is Most at Risk for Sports-Relat­ed Concussions?

Your mind might imme­di­ate­ly jump to foot­ball play­ers, but foot­ball isn’t the only poten­tial­ly dan­ger­ous sport. Oth­er con­tact sports like soc­cer, bas­ket­ball, cheer­lead­ing, hock­ey, rug­by, wrestling, and lacrosse are all well-known cul­prits of con­cus­sions. If your child doesn’t play sports but par­tic­i­pates in recre­ation­al activ­i­ties like skate­board­ing or bike rid­ing, they may also be at risk.

Can Con­cus­sions Be Prevented?

You can’t always pre­vent a con­cus­sion, but there are ways to low­er your child’s risk.

One of the most impor­tant things your child can do is wear a prop­er­ly fit­ting hel­met when play­ing con­tact sports or doing an activ­i­ty that involves rid­ing (like on horse­back, a bike, or a snow­board). Hel­mets can reduce the force that caus­es a con­cus­sion and pro­tect your child from a more severe TBI. 

Also, make sure your child is famil­iar with the signs of con­cus­sions and knows to tell you or their coach know if they have symp­toms after an injury. 

Also read: 3 Pre­ventable Fall Sports Injuries for Stu­dent Athletes

How Are Con­cus­sions Treated?

The main treat­ment for a con­cus­sion is rest. Your child’s provider might rec­om­mend tak­ing aceta­minophen (Tylenol) if they have headaches. They should not take non­s­teroidal anti-inflam­ma­to­ry drugs (NSAIDs) like ibupro­fen or aspirin since they can increase the risk of bleeding. 

For the first few days, any activ­i­ties that require con­cen­tra­tion or a lot of phys­i­cal activ­i­ty can trig­ger symp­toms. How­ev­er, unless their provider says oth­er­wise, they don’t need to avoid those activ­i­ties com­plete­ly. Gen­tle exer­cis­es, like walk­ing or light jog­ging, can actu­al­ly improve recov­ery time. Just make sure that your child isn’t over­do­ing it and that activ­i­ties aren’t mak­ing their symp­toms worse. 

As symp­toms improve and they ease back into dai­ly life, they might need to make mod­i­fi­ca­tions, like tak­ing fre­quent study breaks or lim­it­ing activ­i­ty in gym class or oth­er phys­i­cal activ­i­ties (includ­ing those around the house). Make sure to tell your child’s teach­ers – they may extend dead­lines or give extra time on tests if the con­cus­sion is affect­ing concentration. 

Should I Wake My Child Up at Night or Keep Them Awake to Make Sure They’re Okay?

This is a myth that stems from the fear that some­one is hav­ing a brain bleed, which can be fatal.

How­ev­er, brain bleeds from con­cus­sions are extreme­ly rare. It’s actu­al­ly bet­ter to let your child sleep, since sleep can speed up heal­ing. Keep mon­i­tor­ing them while they sleep, but don’t wor­ry about wak­ing them up. 

Do Con­cus­sions Cause Per­ma­nent Brain Damage?

Con­cus­sions usu­al­ly don’t cause last­ing dam­age. The major­i­ty of chil­dren make full recov­er­ies, and it’s very rare for symp­toms to become permanent.

That said, some con­cus­sions can have long-term effects. And while a sin­gle con­cus­sion is unlike­ly to cause per­ma­nent prob­lems, hav­ing mul­ti­ple in a short peri­od of time or over a person’s life­time can affect how the brain works and lead to severe com­pli­ca­tions or seri­ous health conditions. 

When Can My Child Return to Play?

The process of return­ing to a sport or nor­mal activ­i­ty usu­al­ly takes at least a full week, and depend­ing on the sever­i­ty of symp­toms, some­times longer. Your child should not start their sport again until their symp­toms have com­plete­ly resolved and they have been cleared by their provider. The provider will check that your child:

• Doesn’t have any symptoms
• Is not tak­ing any med­ica­tion for symptoms
• Has gone back to school full time, and their con­cen­tra­tion and mem­o­ry are back to normal
• Doesn’t have symp­toms that return after sprint­ing, jog­ging, or doing push-ups or sit-ups

Addi­tion­al­ly, your child’s school or ath­let­ic orga­ni­za­tion might have their own poli­cies for when some­one can return to play after a concussion. 

Even if your child is feel­ing fine, don’t let them play again with­out med­ical clear­ance. It’s eas­i­er to get anoth­er con­cus­sion if they haven’t healed from the first one, and their symp­toms could get even worse and last even longer. 

Also read: Be the Real MVP — When and When Not to Push Through a Sports Injury

If your child gets a con­cus­sion, try not to pan­ic. While it’s crit­i­cal to take con­cus­sions seri­ous­ly and to get your child the care they need, most chil­dren can go back to their nor­mal lives and return to the sport they love.

Whether you need imme­di­ate eval­u­a­tion for a minor con­cus­sion or ongo­ing con­cus­sion man­age­ment, Duly’s sports med­i­cine experts and imme­di­ate care teams are ready to help your young ath­lete recov­er ful­ly and return to play safely. 

Call 1−630−469−9200 to sched­ule with one of our sports med­i­cine providers or click below to find an imme­di­ate care cen­ter near you.

Find Imme­di­ate Care near you >