CONTEXT
The K-W Badminton Club is committed to promoting awareness of safety in the club and on the courts. KWBC recognizes that the health and safety of all club members are essential preconditions for effective learning. We all have important roles to play in promoting membership health and safety and in fostering and maintaining healthy and safe environments in which participants can learn.
Research demonstrates that a concussion can have a significant impact on a participant – cognitively, physically, emotionally, and socially. The implementation of a policy on concussion within KWBC is therefore another important step in creating a healthy environment in the club. It also reinforces the knowledge, skills, and attitudes regarding injury prevention that are developed through the various subjects and disciplines in the KWBC coach’s guide.
It is very important to participants’ long-term health and academic success that individuals in club have information on appropriate strategies to minimize risk of concussion, steps to follow if there is a participant who may have a concussion; and effective management procedures to guide participants’ return to learning and physical activity after a diagnosed concussion.
DEFINITION AND DIAGNOSIS OF CONCUSSION
Concussion is the term for a clinical diagnosis that is made by a medical doctor or a nurse practitioner.
A concussion:
• Is a brain injury that causes changes in the way in which the brain functions and that can lead to symptoms that can be physical (e.g., headache, dizziness), cognitive (e.g., difficulty in concentrating or remembering), emotional/behavioral (e.g., depression, irritability), and/or related to sleep (e.g., drowsiness, difficulty in falling asleep);
• May be caused either by a direct blow to the head, face, or neck or by a blow to the body that transmits a force to the head that causes the brain to move rapidly within the skull;
• Can occur even if there has been no loss of consciousness (in fact most concussions occur without a loss of consciousness);
It should also be noted that injuries that result from a concussion may lead to “second impact syndrome”, which is a rare condition that causes rapid and severe brain swelling and often catastrophic results, if an individual suffers a second concussion before he or she is free from symptoms sustained from the first concussion.
Call 911:
- Has vomited more than once
- Has unequal pupils
- Is dizzy, confused or agitated
- Has weakness on one side of the body
- Passes out or is unconscious
- Is very drowsy or unable to wake up
- Has neck pain after a fall
- Has slurred speech
- Is off-balance or has trouble walking
- Has a seizure