English
Synthesis Essay
Pediatric and Adolescent Concussion Diagnosis
Concussions are common forms of head injuries among children and adolescents that participate in extremely physical athletic games. The issue of adolescent concussion is a current hot topic among scholars interested in sports and medicine. Researchers are recurrently focusing on the diagnosis, treatment and long-term management of concussions due to the high frequency of high school athletic injuries. Pediatricians report that concussions account for 9% of all high school injuries and various specialists encounter at least one child with traumatic head injury every twelve months (Itriyeva, Feinstein & Carmine). The specialists are at times forced to refer these patients to subspecialists such as neurologists for specialized care. Most healthcare providers redirect their patients to neurologists because they are not conversant with the New York State Education Department concussion guidelines. In fact, different clinicians report that they use varying approaches towards the diagnosis, treatment and management of concussions, which makes it necessary for scholars to perform continuous medical education into this specific area.
Athletes are the top victims of traumatic head injuries due to the repeated knocks they get when participating in various physical sports. A critical review of how to prevent concussions in physical sports is necessary for the management of adolescent’s health in high schools. Concussions are dangerous because they can lead to cognitive impairment rendering the casualties unable to play the sport again or even learn properly at school after the hard impact on their head. It is, therefore, very important to conduct further research on the best practices of diagnosing concussions on time and managing treatment of victims for quick and complete recovery. Scholars have been presenting their unique contributions to this hot topic in order to ensure that future practices managing the critical medical condition are streamlined to obtain the optimal management methods.
Traditionally, concussions have been viewed as common injuries in adolescent athletes that only amount to a mild brain injury. According to Grady (154) pediatricians understood that once an athlete is diagnosed with a concussion, complete physical and mental rest was necessary for treatment. In school-aged athletes, more focus is placed on their return-to-sports measures and decisions made during this period rely on plenty of rest for healing. However, in the article by Grady, epidemiology and pathophysiology are clinical factors that can aid researchers in understanding the nature of concussions. The journal article acknowledges that more research on the medical condition should be conducted using other test subjects apart from adolescents.
According to Master et al., (e180) the concept of return-to-play is common to pediatricians that work with athletes that have experienced a traumatic head injury. However, since concussions are either mild or acute brain injuries, clinicians also need to implement “return-to-learn” measures for their patients. Athletes require much attention to reintegrate them back to school activities since the hard and repeated knocks on their head may lead to long-term memory deficits. It is difficult to prevent concussions even through the use of helmets due to the unique features of every knock sustained during a sporting event. The article by Master et al., emphasizes timely reenter into a normal school and sports activities to avoid long-term detrimental impacts among school-going athletes.
Sports-related concussions are important to diagnose accurately and in time to initiate management practices because athletes depend on sporting activities for a living. There is a need to prevent those that have not experienced the condition from ever acquiring it by developing safety measures. Reesman (92) suggests that clinical neurologists should place more attention on the mild to severe range of impacts that can cause concussions in athletes. By identifying the severity of head knocks that can cause a concussion in an athlete, attempts to minimize the physicality of the sport for safe engagement can be raised. It is necessary to engage in sports that do not risk the mental wellbeing of the athlete.
The different physician perspectives on how to manage concussions among athletes need to be integrated in order to identify what is most important to the victims of the condition. The clinicians’ decisions during diagnosis, treatment and post-concussion management determine the quality of health in school-aged athletes. Most athletic adolescents have their entire lives ahead of them with an opportunity to become professionals in the type of athletics they play. As a result, the fate of the athletes’ wellbeing lies on the attitude and decisions made by the pediatric specialist in charge of their case to facilitate their return-to-play (Baker 1286). Local pediatricians must be aware of the need to evaluate all these scenarios in order to go ahead with the right course of action that will provide the patient with optimal results as desired.
Going by the reports from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) pediatricians have to identify barriers to correct and timely diagnosis of concussions among adolescent athletes (Itriyeva, Feinstein & Carmine). Advanced diagnosis ensures that patients are placed under the concussion protocol to prevent further brain injury and facilitate correct treatment measures. In addition to the existing guidelines on how to diagnose, treat and manage concussions among adolescent athletes, managing the severity of impact during the physical sport could prevent the high frequency of concussion patients.
The sports with the most concussion victims include; football, boxing, and, UFC where the physicality involved are extremely high. In order to prevent many participants from acquiring a concussion from these sports, the level of impact leading to the condition must be monitored. The unique features in every case of concussion injury must be analyzed by pediatricians to aid all pediatric specialists in making a swift diagnosis. Thus, a pediatrician watching the sporting activities can immediately deduce whether a player has had a concussion from the level of impact they witness.
Future research into this medical condition affecting the lives of athletes in their adolescent stage should focus on preventing its high prevalence. By determining the severity of an impact likely to cause a concussion and the additional unique features leading to traumatic head injury, more athletes can engage in their sports safely. Regardless of the physicality involved in the type of sport an individual engages in, their safety will be guaranteed by swift diagnosis and preventative measures set in the game. It is unfortunate that sports individuals have to risk their health and lives due to the uncertainty that lies in this field of medicine yet extensive research is still being conducted. Once pediatricians have determined the severity of impact that is likely to cause a concussion, the rules of the game can be altered to ban the extreme knocks. All sporting activities need to be made safe for participants, and pediatricians have the chance to contribute towards this major breakthrough that could make all sports safe.
Works Cited
Baker, J. G., et al. "Principles for a return to learn after concussion." International journal of clinical practice 68.11 (2014): 1286-1288.
Grady, Matthew F. "Concussion in the adolescent athlete." Current problems in pediatric and adolescent health care 40.7 (2010): 154-169.
Itriyeva, Khalida, Ronald Feinstein, and Linda Carmine. "Pediatric providers’ attitudes and practices regarding concussion diagnosis and management." International journal of adolescent medicine and health (2017).
Master, Christina L., et al. "Importance of ‘return-to-learn’in pediatric and adolescent concussion." Pediatric annals 41.9 (2012): e180-e185.
Reesman, J. (2013). Pediatric and Adolescent Concussion: Diagnosis, Management and Outcomes. Archives of clinical neuropsychology, 28(1), 92-93.