Myth: Your child should be woken up every few hours after a concussion to check symptoms.
Truth: To help your child’s brain heal, they need as much sleep as possible. Waking your child up every few hours disrupts this. There is no need to wake your child to check for symptoms unless your child’s doctor asks that you do so.
Myth: My child’s CT or MRI scan was negative. This means that my child does not have a concussion.
Truth: MRIs and CT scans are used to detect structural damage. With concussions, there typically isn’t any structural damage to the brain, unless there is another issue besides a concussion, such as a bleed on the brain. When a child has a concussion, the damage to the brain usually occurs at the cellular and chemical levels. These levels cannot be seen on a MRI or CT scans.
Myth: A person has to lose consciousness or blackout to have a concussion.
Truth: Most of the people who are diagnosed with a concussion do not lose consciousness or black out. Only about 1 out of every 10 people who are diagnosed with a concussion actually loses consciousness.
Myth: Children recover from concussions faster than adults.
Truth: Since the brains of children and teenagers are still growing, their brains take longer to heal when compared to adults.
Myth: Concussions only happen to boys who play football.
Truth: Concussions can happen in any sport, to boys and girls. Concussions also happen to people other than those who play sports. People can get a concussion after being in a car accident or even falling down the stairs and hitting their head.
At Cincinnati Children’s we are all dedicated to treating all head injuries regardless of severity or cause.
In addition to the work to educate and help prevent head injuries, the following help to treat, educate and rehab our patients to a full recovery.