Tag: child head injury


Concussions. And what you can do to prevent them.

30
January
Kids should wear protective gear to avoid concussions

Kids should wear protective gear to avoid concussions

Our series of ‘head injury’ posts are mainly written for parents worried about their kids. But since most of the information holds for head injuries in all age groups, be sure to go over our last two posts to catch up even if you don’t have a kid suffering from a head injury.

Last week we discussed internal head injuries and how to treat them. In today’s post, we will be taking a look at a specific type of internal head injury called ‘Concussion’.

CONCUSSION

A concussion is sustained by damage to the skull and can temporarily cause loss of normal brain function. Concussions can be either mild or serious, and repeated concussions can cause permanent damage. And since symptoms of even mild concussion overlap with those of much serious conditions, it is important to seek medical treatment.

Symptoms

Concussion symptoms include:

• Lightheadedness or a dizzy/dazed/drowsy feeling
• Loss of memory (particularly of what happened right before and/or after the injury)
• Vomiting
• Headaches
• Slurred or incoherent speech
• Difficulty in thinking, deciding or concentrating
• Difficulty in performing simple balancing/coordinating tasks
• Feeling irate or worried

Cause

The number one reason for concussions in children is sports. Of course, that doesn’t mean you should try to stop your kid from venturing into the playground altogether: the benefits of sports outweigh any possible side-effects. What you can do is take precautions to protect your child from a serious concussion.

Protective measures

It is impossible to grow up without falling or getting hurt some time. But you can definitely play a role in reducing the amount of injuries that your kid sustains in the playground or around the house:

• If you have small kids, you should have your entire house childproofed (look up ‘childproofing’ for do-it-yourself tips or professional services)
• Make sure your child always wears the right head gear and/or safety equipment when he’s participating in activities like biking, skating, skate or snow boarding, skiing and contact sports. Statistics show that just wearing a helmet reduces biking related injuries by more than 80%!
• Strictly have your kids wear a safety belt in the car
• Don’t let your kid go immediately back to sports or rough play after an injury. Always wait for the doctor’s ‘OK’.
• Try your best to prevent further injury while your child is still recovering from the first one. Healing could become slower and difficult upon re-injury.

If your child has sustained a head injury or concussion, visit your local MedHelp clinic for instant treatment and advice.

1 comment » | Urgent Care Atlanta

Help! My Kid Just Fell Down and Hit His Head on the Floor

14
January
Check your kid's breathing while he's sleeping after a head injury

Check your kid

Parents (especially those who are raising small children or taking care of infants) often have to deal with one very unpleasant by-product of childhood: frequent injuries. Once we grow up, we don’t even remember all the times we had a bad fall or cut ourselves. But every time it happened, our parents were probably more concerned than there was any need to be. However, as we will be discussing in this article (as well as in next week’s entry), an injury, especially if it’s to the head, could be a serious matter even if it doesn’t look like much.

First let’s take a look at the two types of head injuries:

1. External head injuries: These are only sustained to the scalp and don’t do significant damage below surface.
2. Internal head injuries: A blow to the skull could easily injure the brain and cause internal bleeding or bruising which can even be life threatening.

We will discuss internal head injuries in the next article. But for now let’s learn about identifying external head injuries and what you can do to treat them:

EXTERNAL HEAD INJURIES

While external injuries can lead to profuse bleeding, the reason isn’t as much severe damage as it is the location of the injury. The scalp is rich with blood vessels and even the tiniest cut can eject a lot of blood. The characteristic head bump or swelling you get after an external head injury is due to blood bleeding right below or into the scalp. The bump usually goes away within a few days or weeks depending on the extent of the injury.

Symptoms

The symptoms of identifying external head injuries are basically the absence of internal injury symptoms. So you have to make sure your child doesn’t have any of the following indications:

• Does not stop crying
• Complains of head/neck pain
• Starts vomiting again and again
• Becomes drowsy/groggy or inconsolable
• Does not walk normally

If your child is an infant who’s suffered a head injury, it is very important that you take him to the doctor straight away. Our medical experts at MedHelp recommend checkups for all head injuries in infants as the damage can often be much more severe than it looks. However if your kid is an older child and does not show any of the symptoms discussed above, you can try treating him at home by doing the following:

• Rub the injured area with an ice pack for 10 – 20 minutes every few hours
• Check a couple of times for irregularities in breathing or skin color if your child’s fallen asleep
• Carefully observe your child for the next 48 hours. Contact a doctor immediately if you see any internal injury symptoms developing

Kids hurt themselves all the time and usually it’s no cause to worry. However, if you are concerned, there is no better option that making sure your child is alright after a head injury by taking him to the doctor. When you visit MedHelp, your child will be thoroughly examined and you will be notified if there’s any cause to worry. As always, better safe that sorry!

26 comments » | Urgent Care Atlanta

     

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