It is an all too common experience in sporting events today. Whether its football, baseball, lacrosse, or some other sporting activity someone takes a blow to the head. While protective gear, such as helmets or other head gear may help, it does not prevent a head injury from occurring.
Whenever there has been a blow to the head safety comes first:
- Immediately take the child out of the game. Your child may seem fine and want to continue playing. The better course is to be safe and take your child out of the sporting event until he or she has been cleared medically.
- Make sure the coach knows what happened. Prevention of head injuries is everyone’s responsibility. When coaches are made aware that someone has been injured they can evaluate the circumstances surrounding the event to determine how to either prevent, or reduce the likelihood or it happening again.
- Get medical treatment as soon as possible for your child. There is no substitute to having a trained medical professional perform a full assessment on your child. Many sporting events have first responders in attendance to ensure injuries are timely addressed. If your child’s sporting event does not have some form of trained healthcare professionals in attendance you should raise this as a concern at the next team meeting.
- Monitor your child’s symptoms and alert the doctor to any changes. After your child has been evaluated by trained medical doctor symptoms including behavioral changes, lethargy, headache, poor concentration, dizziness and speech difficulties may develop. Be on the lookout for any changes in behavior or symptoms and alert your doctor immediately.
- Make sure you get medical clearance before having your child
return to sports. When it comes time for the next game make
sure you have taken your child to the doctor and received medical
clearance to participate in the sporting event.
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