The Dangers of Fall Sports for Your Child

By Sara Butler

Fall is almost here and that means football, soccer and basketball season is right around the corner! If you have a child that plays one of these sports, from pee-wee or high school, there are some issues you should be concerned about, particularly head and neck injuries. Here is what you need to know to keep your child safe and how your chiropractor can help.

The Hidden Dangers of Sports

Parents know that sports can be dangerous, but it’s not just contact sports such as football that should be of concern when it comes to head and neck injuries. Football may be No. 1 when it comes to head injuries, but hockey, wrestling, soccer, baseball, basketball, field hockey and softball are not far behind. That’s why you need to know what to look for in order to keep your child healthy.

Checking the Neck

Head injuries aren’t the only injury that need to be of concern since neck injuries also happen quite frequently in team sports. Neck injuries can impact a person hours, days, weeks, months or even years after sustaining the injury. Your child could sustain a whiplash injury that can cause them health problems down the road.

What to Look For

If you’re concerned about concussions and whiplash, then you need to know what to look for. The long-term impact of neck injuries and head injuries include:

• Depression
• Mood swings
• Headaches
• Instability
• Memory loss
• Fatigue

If not treated properly, these injuries can also damage the ligaments in the neck, causing nerve irritation and interference between the central nervous system and the rest of the body, impacting the function of the entire body, even after the initial pain has gone away.

How Chiropractic Can Help

Statistically, nearly 75 percent of families with children under 18 have at least one child involved in sports, whether it’s with school or a community team. Of course, team sports have many benefits to a child; although injury should be a concern, it shouldn’t keep your family from being involved in the things you want to be involved in.

All you need to do to keep your child safe is to be aware of the potential injuries they can sustain and make sure your child is receiving regular chiropractic care. You can work with your chiropractor at The Joint to develop a strategy to deal with injuries should they happen to your child, and that can help your child to heal faster and to prevent injuries from becoming more serious. 

Story Link