Concussion in an Adolescent Athlete? Get ‘Em Moving!

Many parents opt to bring young athletes who’ve taken a blow to the head to an urgent care center instead of the emergency room or the pediatrician, especially if they’re concerned about excessive waits. As such, you should be aware of a new study out of the University of Buffalo that suggests a supervised aerobic exercise regimen spurs faster recovery in adolescents who’ve sustained a concussion while playing a sport. Researchers followed 103 subjects between 13 and 18 years of age, split nearly evenly between males and females, who were seen within 10 days after sustaining a sport-related concussion. Those who followed the aerobic exercise program took 13 days to recover on average, compared with those who only performed stretching exercises, who took 17 days. In addition, fewer patients in the exercise program took more than 4 weeks to recover than those in the control group. The study, published in JAMA Pediatrics, is thought to be the first randomized clinical trial of a treatment in the acute phase after a sports-related concussion. JUCM tackled this topic from an urgent care perspective in Concussion Management in Urgent Care: A Primer for Implementation. Read it now in our archive.