Sports Related Concussions Increase Among Children

According to a new study published by the journal Pediatrics, the number o f ER visits by children suffering from sports related injuries more than doubled from 2001-2005.

The research was conducted by a team led by Dr. Lisa Bakhos of Brown University’s Injury Prevention Center and Rhode Island Hospital/Hasbro Children’s Hospital in Providence.

Specifically, the number of ER reported cases of concussion among kids ages 8-19 was tallied at 502,000; about half of those cases were related to sports injuries.  The Rhode Island researchers emphasize that this number is probably lower than actual reality, since it does not reflect those instances in which parents took their children to a pediatrician sometime after the incident occurred or those cases in which a physician was not seen at all.

Perhaps the most surprising component of the study was the fact that 1/3 of those reported injuries were among kids between 8 and 13.  According to a report by the Los Angeles Times, this is likely due to the fact that more and moreyounger kids are joining special youth league traveling teams, despite the fact that overall participation in organized, team sports has been declining.

The American Academy of Pediatrics reports that football accounts for 6 in 10 of reported mild head injuries; wrestling comes in at number two, purportedly causing 1 in ten concussions.   Soccer is the most common culprit of head injury causing incidents among females; overall, however, girls comrpise less than 1/5 of sports related concussions.

Per the AAP website, there are some facts about concussions and their treatment that parents need to be aware of, the most pressing may be the fact that kids who’ve had one concussion are 2-4 times more likely to have another.

Defined specifically, a concussions are injuries caused by bruising of the brain, with no bleeding of the brain or structural damage to the skull; they can occur with or without a loss of consciousness.

Here are the three levels, or “grades” of concussion:

Grade I –mild (the child may be confused, but not knocked out
Grade II – moderate (confused with memory loss)
Grade III – severe (completely knocked out)

Following are the normal signs to look for within the first two days of injury:

*fatigue and desire for sleep (although they awaken easily after falling asleep)
*confusion
*headache which does not increase in intensity
*nausea
*unsteadiness
*vomiting that is intermittent, but not constant

The following symptoms need to be immediately addressed by a physician:

*change in personality, often accompanied by irritability and confusion
*headache that becomes more intense or worsens, especially if it induces nausea and vomiting
*numbness or tingling, changes in breathing pattern, seizure
*eye and vision changes (double and blurred)
*unequal sized pupils