Playing sports can be a great way for kids to lead a strong and healthy life.
However, with certain sports, the chances of getting an injury–like a concussion– can be high. I got a chance to sit down with Dr. Mark Riederer, who is a Pediatric Sports Medicine Specialist for Nemours Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children.
He says anyone is capable of getting a concussion, no matter what the sport.
“You know football soccer and basketball which are contact and collision sports,” Dr. Riederer says, “however, I did see a swimmer recently who had a concussion who got accidentally kicked in the head. So you don’t expect to get a concussion from swimming but we see that as well. We see cheerleaders as well get concussions too.”
One of Dr. Riederer’s patients is high school student, Paige Westgaph. She’s a volleyball player who took a devastating blow during one of her games. After several tests, she realized that she had a concussion.
Once she knew the issue at hand, she consulted Dr. Riederer, put her through repeated physical and memory therapy. Paige then tried to gradually return to her school activities, but the transition wasn’t quite gradual enough.
“One of my classes, mainly like my English class… we had assignment after assignment.” Paige says, “I was stressed out because I couldn’t get it done in time. I’m not the type of person that wants to like slack off.
Dr. Riederer says that girls can take about twice as long to recover from concussions than their boy counterparts. He says that could be tied to the fact that girls have a higher rate of mood disorders and anxiety after puberty. These factors prolong symptoms of a concussion.
Paige returned to Dr. Riederer, who told her that her stress actually prolonged her symptoms. His advice to her and to any child dealing with a concussion is to give it time. Children and teens need to let their mind rest so that they can fully heal from all the trauma.
Dr. Riederer says if your child is a young athlete, it’s a good idea to have their brain function measured before an injury occurs.
Click here to learn about their baseline concussion testing program.
