Recovery from a concussion is a collaborative process involving the patient, family, healthcare providers, and friends. When the individual who sustains a concussion happens to be a child, parental support becomes pivotal in promoting and supporting recovery. Forms of social support parents can provide include practical, emotional, and informational resources.

Here are some ways parents can mitigate the challenges faced by their children following a concussion:

• Education: If your child is old enough to comprehend the ramifications of their injury, talk to them about what symptoms to expect and the importance of following the medical guidelines. It is also crucial to keep yourself educated on the symptoms and monitor their progress. Inform others, such as teachers, family, and friends about your child’s injury and provide them with information about what your child is experiencing in order for them to provide additional support.

• Provide positive reinforcement: To encourage your child to engage in care-seeking behaviour and make progress towards their recovery, you can provide them with positive reinforcement such as praise or small rewards. This technique can also be effective in helping the child avoid situations that can put them at increased risk of sustaining another injury, thus worsening their symptoms.

• Explore and manage the emotional response of the child and family to the injury. This will set a positive foundation for the recovery journey that the child and the family will endure. Helping your child reappraise the stressful and negative emotions in a more constructive direction will help your child, and the family, cope with the psychological impacts of the injury.

• Reduce their cognitive load: Cognitive rest is necessary following a concussion to reduce the demands of the brain. This can be achieved by making a daily schedule or routine that your child can follow which includes adequate rest periods to avoid exertion. Recognizing your child’s limits of tolerability for activity intensity and duration, and adjusting their schedule after reassessing their progress can enhance their recovery, yet prevent cognitive overload.

• Modify home environment: Simple changes in the home can help the child manage their symptoms. Reducing distractions while they are performing activities, maintaining a quiet environment, providing a healthy lifestyle and diet, adding more breaks or naps, and setting bedtime to ensure they are getting enough sleep are all examples of beneficial modifications.

• Protect them against additional concussions: Sustaining multiple concussions can increase healing time and produce long-term issues. Although a concussion is unpredictable, using protective equipment while playing high-impact sports and sharing information with the child about these risks can reduce the chance of enduring other injuries.

• Be patient: A concussion often leads to increased irritability and temper outbursts in children. Give your child time to calm down and talk them through the problems or challenges they are facing by providing them with tools to help them cope. Recovery can be overwhelming for the child, but for the parent as well, so give yourself and your child some encouragement and be patient as full recovery can take time.

Written by Lea Farah

References

Gioia, G. A. (2015). Multimodal evaluation and management of children with concussion: Using our heads and available evidence. Brain Injury, 29(2), 195-206. https://doi.org/10.3109/02699052.2014.965210

Kroshus, E., Babkes Stellino, M., Chrisman, S. P. D., & Rivara, F. P. (2018). Threat, pressure, and communication about concussion safety: Implications for parent concussion education. Health Education & Behavior, 45(2), 254-261. https://doi.org/10.1177/1090198117715669

Concussion Fact Sheet. (n.d.). Retrieved Feb 23, 2021, from https://www.stlouischildrens.org/health-resources/pulse/concussion-fact-sheet