The Pharmacist’s Guide to Junior Sports Injuries: Play or Stay Home?
Children growing up in Ireland often take part in team sports as a way to build confidence and develop their teamwork skills, as well as grow their social networks. Whether your child is involved with GAA, football, rugby, athletics, hockey or dance, regular sporting activity is a great way to establish healthy habits and build fitness and wellbeing habits that will last a lifetime. However, all junior sports come with the risk of injury, and it is very important to know when to push through and when to stop and take time to recover.
Most paediatric A&E visits are due to injuries, and many of these occur during junior sports. Injuries range in severity, and whether your child has a twisted ankle or a collision on the pitch, you’ll need to know how to handle the situation. Minor injuries can often be dealt with onsite, while more severe injuries may require extensive treatment and rehabilitation, so how can you tell which is the right approach?
Here at WonderCare, we are here to help you as your children grow, and our experienced pharmacists can provide advice and guidance on caring for sporting injuries. We can help to assess and manage injuries and recommend treatments, as well as highlight when further medical support may be needed. Let’s take a look at some common junior sports injuries and how to treat them.
Play or Stay Home?
Athletes, particularly young athletes, are often advised to continue playing after an injury, and may be keen to do this so that they do not compromise their teammates. However, it’s important to check the following before you allow this to happen, as injuries can have more severe consequences for children and teenagers.
Your child should not continue playing if they have any symptoms of concussion, such as dizziness, swelling or confusion, or if they cannot move normally. If movement is compromised or the affected area or limb cannot be used normally, you should insist that your child stop playing straight away. Likewise, if pain is worsening, they should not continue to play.
If symptoms are ignored, injuries could become worse, and this is simply not worth the risk. If in doubt, it is always better to stop playing and take a proper rest. In general, young people should be pain-free before returning to their sport after an injury, and they should make a gradual return to their training schedule to allow the injury to recover fully.
Common Junior Injuries
In junior sports, some injuries are more common than others, including:
Sprains
A sprain can be extremely painful, occurring when the ligament that connects the bones is stretched or torn. It is common for junior athletes to sprain an ankle, wrist, knee or finger, especially during contact sports or misjudged landings. If the pain is very mild and movement is not impeded, your child may be able to continue playing with a sprain. You should check that there is no swelling and that they do not push themselves too hard.
However, if the affected area is swollen or bruised and the joint feels unstable, or if movement is painful or restricted, you should stop your child from playing and take a rest, applying ice to the area if possible. Your pharmacist may recommend ice, compression and elevation, and may suggest over-the-counter pain relief to relieve the discomfort. You should always seek further medical advice if the pain and swelling do not improve after 48 hours.
Strains
A muscle strain is a painful injury that affects tendons or muscles, and it commonly occurs during running or kicking. Strains often affect the hamstrings, calves, groin or lower back, and may be more likely to occur repeatedly in teenagers, who are growing fast. Playing on is a possibility only if the pain is mild and movement is normal. If there is a sharp pain or weakness in the affected area, or if movement is limited, you should ensure that your child stops playing and takes a break to recover.
If there is significant swelling or bruising, or if the muscles are weak, movement is limited, or the pain is severe, there may be an underlying muscle tear. Do not stretch the affected muscles immediately after an injury, as this may cause the injury to worsen. Seek advice from your pharmacist. Rest, ice and pain relief are usually recommended in the first few days of a strain injury, but it is very important to ensure that your child takes enough time to rest and heal.
Concussion
It is vital to be careful with concussion or potential concussion injuries. In junior sports, concussion injuries are most common after head-on collisions, falls or hard blows to the shoulders or body. Concussion has many symptoms, not just losing consciousness, and you should look out for headaches, nausea, confusion, light sensitivity and dizziness, which may not develop immediately.
If you suspect that your child has a concussion, they should stop playing immediately, and you should monitor them for at least 24 hours. This is imperative to reduce the risk of prolonged concussion and serious complications, including brain injury. You should seek urgent medical help if your child is vomiting repeatedly, has a severe headache, has lost consciousness or had a seizure, or has any disturbance in their vision.
Bruises
Bruises are very common and usually do not require professional medical attention. If the pain and swelling around the bruised area are mild and manageable, and movement is normal, your child will probably be able to continue playing their sport. However, if you see significant swelling or there is any numbness or tingling, you should seek further medical attention. Symptoms such as pain in the bone or restricted movement could indicate that there is an underlying fracture or tissue damage.
Minor bruising can be eased with cold compresses and over-the-counter pain relief, and if pain persists for longer than a few days, you should visit your pharmacist for advice.
You may also notice that your child experiences discomfort while playing their sport if they have a repetitive injury, such as shin splints, or if they experience growing pains. Again, it is important to assess whether the pain is mild or severe, and whether there is any change in mobility. You should not ignore these pains in the long term, as this can lead to joint pains and stress fractures, but it is worth exploring whether choosing more supportive footwear could help to relieve the pain.
Recovery Advice at WonderCare
Our professional pharmacists and pharmacy technicians at WonderCare can help you to assess and manage junior sports injuries, and we can offer pain relief, cold therapy products and support devices. We offer recovery advice and can help to signpost you to seek medical advice or alternative therapies if required.
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