LLUMC Physician Educates Parents About Injuries at Sports Camp

Injuries can happen while playing sports, and Dr. Valarie Wong, a pediatric and sports medicine specialist at Loma Linda University Medical Center, wants to ensure that parents understand when it’s time to get their children checked out after an injury sustained on the field.

On June 15, Wong attended a sports camp at the Epicenter Sports Complex in Rancho Cucamonga and shared information on everything from athletes being pressured to play to concussions.

"It is far too common for kids to get back in the game after getting hit or falling on their head,” she said. “Parents and coaches need to be able to know how to identify a concussion. If a concussion goes undetected the damage can quickly worsen or the player can endure other injuries."

Wong said she is concerned that there is a lot of pressure on young athletes to get back into the game after being injured. In the case of head injuries, Wong stated that they should be evaluated by a healthcare professional who has experience assessing and managing concussions.

Wong is now working on research at LLUMC to see if advanced imaging techniques can be used to pinpoint an athlete who has suffered from a severe concussion.

"I hope to use these techniques to determine if kids who suffer from concussions and other sports related head injuries are returning to play too soon," Wong said.

The day-long sports camp was put on by the Christian Okoye Foundation, and was more than just a meeting for parents - kids 18 and under learned the fundamentals of sports, including teamwork and decision making on the field.

Former running back Okoye told the parents that pressure to play while injured was something that happened in the NFL, and that an injury to his posterior cruciate ligament he sustained in 1990 never fully healed because he went immediately back into the game.
 
Okoye met Wong while touring LLUMC earlier this year, found her research interesting, and wanted her knowledge imparted on the parents who came out to the camp.

"Coaches of young athletes don't always know how to detect serious injuries, so it's important parents really pay attention to their kids and be able to know how to recognize when something is wrong," he said.