Millions of children in the USA participate in sports like basketball, soccer, hockey, and football. Sadly, a large fraction also experiences concussions. As a parent or guardian of a child athlete, it pays to know a thing or two about dealing with such trauma or injury. What are the symptoms you should look out for? How long does the effect of a concussion last? Can remedies like upper cervical chiropractic for concussion help relieve the symptoms? Learn more about pediatric concussions due to sports-related events and your remedy options in our discussion. 

Pediatric Concussions: What to Expect

Mild traumatic brain injuries (TBI) or concussions are common in kids, unfortunately, it’s quite challenging to detect concussions as some kids don’t show obvious symptoms like sensory problems, mood swings, impaired mobility, slow cognitive function, and depression. 

If your child suffers from a bump, blow, or jolt to the neck or head, we suggest seeking medical assistance as soon as possible. This will help you eliminate risks and manage the symptoms more effectively. A positive diagnosis can also guide you in seeking remedies such as seeking a practitioner of upper cervical chiropractic for concussion.

How Serious is a Pediatric Concussion?

To help you understand the severity of a TBI or concussion, we’ve gathered some quick facts and stats from CDC: 

• From 2010 to 2016, roughly 283,000 children sought emergency care due to sports-related concussions per year. 
• Bicycling, football, soccer, basketball, and playground activities are the leading causes of ER visits for pediatric concussions. 
• Child athletes are more at risk of sports-related TBIs than collegiate or pro athletes because most don’t know how to avoid head injuries.
• Young girl athletes are more prone to concussions than their male counterparts.
• Girls in 7 to 18 take more time to recover than boys in the same age range.

How Pediatric Concussions Impact Young Athletes

Many of today’s well-known professional athletes have been playing in their chosen sports since they were kids. Aspiring youths who want to be the next Lebron James, Stephen Curry, Patrick Mahomes, Serena Williams, or Alex Morgan often put extra effort into achieving their goals.

Unfortunately, sometimes, when practice sessions or an actual match gets rough, injuries such as concussions can occur. It can deter an athlete from performing well in the rest of the games. If not handled correctly through remedies like upper cervical chiropractic for concussion, the symptoms can also impact a child’s future. 

As a result, parents, guardians, trainers, and other adult supervisors of child athletes should know the key signs of a pediatric TBI, such as:

• Seizure
• Confusion
• Amnesia
• Difficulty vocalizing one’s thoughts
• Disorientation
• Personality or mood changes 
• Fainting 
• Muscle weakness
• Poor body and mind coordination
• Headaches
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Unexplainable fatigue
• Forgets about the gameplay or the current sports activity
• Tinnitus (hearing a buzzing sound in one ear)

If you notice these TBI symptoms, we recommend heading to your child’s pediatrician or neurologist for a thorough check-up. Your child may need to undergo several assessments to gauge the severity of the injury. The diagnosis can also help you pinpoint the best course of action to help your kid recover faster. 

Helping Kids with Sports-Related TBI

No pediatric concussion case is the same. As a result, the approach used for each patient may vary significantly. In general, you can help a kid with a concussion by following some of the simple remedies and practices below:

• Avoid mental or physical overexertion
• Enforce a brief resting period before resuming training (about 24 to 72 hours, depending on the injury)
• Minimize exposure to excessive sensory stimuli like loud sounds or bright lights
• Reducing time spent on using gadgets like laptops, phones, PCs, and tablets

In addition to these suggestions, you can also try taking your son or daughter to a NUCCA clinic near you. NUCCA is a gentle and scientifically backed procedure used to help athletes recover after a traumatic brain injury. It’s a specialized branch of chiropractic care that shows immense potential in providing lasting relief from lingering concussion symptoms.

Upper Cervical Chiropractic for Concussion in Kids

NUCCA care involves correcting faulty alignments along the neck. Most of the time, when a child suffers from an injury due to contact sports like football, the upper cervical bones get dislodged from their position. The bones shift and press onto the nerve roots and the brainstem. This undue mechanical stress then triggers a series of events that lead to a traumatic brain injury.

Often, concussion symptoms linger because the misaligned neck bones impact the transmission of signals to and from your brain. This affects the recovery and potentially leads to lingering and disabling effects like chronic neck pain, headaches, and even vertigo attacks. 

Thankfully, with the help of a NUCCA doctor, you can resolve this neck alignment issue and activate the body’s natural healing and recovery process. This helps the child get back in shape quicker and prevents the onset of other serious health problems. 

A NUCCA practitioner provides tailored-fit neck adjustments, ensuring that your procedure specifically addresses the neck bone problems. Precise measurements, digital scans, and physical assessment comprise the main diagnostic tests used by NUCCA doctors. With these combined, a NUCCA practitioner can provide comprehensive care to each TBI patient. 

Would you like to try upper cervical chiropractic for concussion? Find a local NUCCA doctor to help your child cope with the symptoms of a sports-related concussion today.

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