Health & Fitness
Concussion Risks Outside of the Football Field
People are more apt to get concussions from everyday activities than on the football field.
There is a lot of talk, a lot of headlines, and even some movies about concussions in football. But, not all of our kids are star quarterbacks. Does all this talk about concussions in football obscure the other risks? Concussions can easily happen during everyday playground falls, bike riding, skateboarding and lots of other activities. As a parent, your best defenses against them are taking some simple precautions and knowing the symptoms.
The basics
A concussion is typically defined as an injury to a person’s head after a traumatic event that can cause an instantaneous loss of awareness for any time from a few seconds through several hours. But people shouldn’t get too hung up on the word traumatic in that description.
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“Concussions happen much more often in everyday life than they do in organized sports,” explained Jamie Ullman, MD, director of neurotrauma at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset.
A concussion could occur from a fall on a slippery surface, being dropped during a cheerleading stunt and many other things.
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Some signs of a concussion include:
- Dizziness
- Nausea
- Blurred vision
- Headache
It is unknown how many concussions occur in the United States as many have probably gone unreported. The American Academy of Pediatrics Council on School Health has said as many as 3.8 million sports and recreation-related concussions occur each year in the U.S.
Keeping kids safe
So if concussions can happen more frequently from everyday occurrences than from contact sports, what should a parent do to keep their child safe?
“Wearing helmets during activities such as bike and scooter riding and roller skating will help reduce a child’s risk of concussions,” Dr. Ullman said. “Whether a parent takes that idea and uses it in other areas such as ice skating is up to their best judgment.”
If your child has signs of a concussion, it is important that they stop participating in whatever activity they are taking part in immediately and seek medical treatment.
