Aug 31, 09 | Posted by: David Melbye, M.D.

Are you ready for some Football?

The football season is underway for most teams.  If your child is playing football remember that it is a safe sport as long as the proper protective equipment and pads are used.  Unfortunately injuries can still occur, and one of the more serious of these are concussions.   We have learned a lot more about concussions in the past few years and they are now receiving the concern and caution they deserve. 

Concussions are not just being “knocked out”.  A concussion includes any head injury that causes the player to be “dazed” even for a brief period of time.  If a player gets a concussion they should be removed from the game immediately and not play any more that day regardless of whether they feel fine or not.   The risk with concussions is something called Second Impact Syndrome, in which a player will return to the game and suffer a second head injury before they recover completely from the first injury.  The consequences of this second impact can be very severe. 

Any player who gets a concussion should be seen by a doctor.  The urgency in which they need to be seen depends on the severity of their symptoms.  Players with severe headaches, loss of consciousness, changes in vision, persistent vomiting, or mental status changes including slurred speech and decreased level of awareness may have a more serious head injury than a concussion and need to be seen immediately in an emergency room.

Symptoms of a concussion can range from blacking out to persistent headaches, nausea and decreased focus and concentration.  Once a player gets a concussion they need to be monitored closely and develop a plan for returning to the field.  The first step is to be completely symptom free when they are doing regular daily activities including going to school.  Some people will be fine when they are at home but have headaches and nausea after attending school for a day and trying to concentrate on their school work.  Once they are fine during the day players can begin light activity including jogging.  If they have no symptoms with light activity they can then begin cutting and non contact drills.   Once they can do those activities symptom free players can start participating in practice and contact drills.  If those go well they can get back on to the field and playing in games.  The time frame for returning to play completely depends on how long it takes the player to recover and can range from as little as 1 week to being out for the entire season.  If your child gets more than one concussion it may be time to have a serious conversation about the risks and benefits of continuing to play football.

Overall football is a fun game and great excersise, but if your child does get a concussion it should be taken seriously.  Sometimes gentle reminders for players that they are not professional athletes and they have a lot of years of sports left to play can help them cope with the immediate dissapointment of temporarily not being able to play.

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