Kid’s Sports Injuries: Treatment and Recovery Tips for Parents
There are a lot of advantages to allowing your children to participate in school and community sports. Sports get kids up and moving which helps to combat epidemics like obesity and childhood diabetes. Children also learn a lot about togetherness, teamwork, diversity, and goal setting all while engaging in fun physical activities. With these great advantages, however, comes a few risks. As youth sports are often competitive, the risk of injury is often greater. As a sports parent it is important that you know how to prevent injuries and treat them should something occur.
Prevention
The best way to keep your young athletes safe is to try and prevent injuries from occurring in the first place. Below is a look at some basic tips to protect your child:
Get a Preseason Checkup
Your child’s health needs to remain a top priority. Each season, before allowing them to participate in sports, you should have them checked out by a pediatrician. A sports physical will help you to assess the current status of your child’s health and their ability to participate in a particular sport. If there are issues that can increase your child’s risk of injury or health complication, the pediatrician will discuss this with you.
Wear Protective Gear
Most sports have protective gear that is required for all team members to wear to play. To prevent injuries, it is imperative that your kids have the necessary gear. The gear should be of high quality and provide the best protection possible. Certain gear might include helmets, shoulder, elbow, knee, or body pads, sports cups, cleats, and more. Talk with your child’s coach to find out what is needed prior to the start of the season.
Warm Up
Your child should never start playing the game without having warmed up first. Warm-ups reduce the risk of injury by stretching the muscles, relieving tension, and getting the blood flowing. If warm-up isn’t part of practice, make sure that you warm up with your child at home prior to dropping them off for the game.
Practice Makes Perfect
Though sports can be a lot of fun it is knowledge of the game and skill that will help keep your child safe. While not all accidents can be prevented, many injuries are the direct result of children not being familiar with the game. Make sure that your child makes it to practices so that they can learn not only the rules of the game but build on skills that can help them perform better and reduce the risk of getting hurt.
Treatment and Recovery
Unfortunately, you can’t prevent accidents from happening all the time. If your child is injured while playing sports, it is a quick action that will be required. Here are some treatment and recovery tips:
Assess the Injury and Your Child
From the moment you realize your child is hurt you should assess the situation. Take a look at the point of pain for signs of swelling, blood, or broken bones. Then, tend to your child and find out if they’re in serious pain, whether or not they can walk, and how they are feeling emotionally. Smaller injuries can easily be treated at home with basic first aid, but more significant injuries require a second look by a medical professional.
Get to the Emergency Room (Or Doctor)
Depending on the extent of the injury, you’ll need to call an ambulance to get you to the nearest emergency room or grab your child and take them to their pediatrician for a visit. Have your child fully examined for a proper diagnosis and treatment plan.
Get Prescriptions and Medical Devices
Once your child has been seen by a medical professional, you’ll need to get those prescriptions filled and pick up any medical devices needed to help them heal. If they suffered a foot and ankle injury, for example, you might need to purchase a foot brace and afo brace socks for additional comfort.
Provide Comfortable Accommodations
After hearing the diagnosis and treatment plan from the doctor, you need to provide a comfortable space for your child to recuperate. Adding extra pillows and linens to the bed, placing the remote controls nearby, and getting them snacks and beverages are all ways to make them feel better faster.
You support your young athlete in participating in activities that benefit their lives and make them happy, but you also realize the risks involved. As sports can often be aggressive and competitive, there is a chance that your child could get hurt. You can do more to protect your child by first learning how to prevent such accidents and injuries from happening, and then by knowing how to take quick action to get them the treatment they deserve.
