The Centers for Advanced Orthopaedics is redefining the way musculoskeletal care is delivered across the region with locations throughout Maryland, DC, Virginia and Pennsylvania.
Almost 800,000 children seek treatment for brain injuries a year. Football, bicycling, basketball, playground activities and soccer are the sports and activities most likely to send children to emergency rooms for traumatic brain injuries (including concussions), according to the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report published Thursday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
If your child does sustain a traumatic brain injury, the CDC has recently released guidelines on how to treat youth concussions. They are:
• Do not routinely image pediatric patients to diagnose a mild traumatic brain injury.
• Use validated, age-appropriate symptom scales to diagnose a concussion.
• Assess for risk factors for prolonged recovery, including history of concussions or other brain injury, severe symptom presentation immediately after the injury, and personal characteristics and family history.
• Provide patients and their parents/caregivers with instructions on returning to activity customized to their symptoms.
• Counsel patients and their parents/caregivers to return gradually to non-sports activities after no more than two to three days of rest.