Interviewer: Common sports injuries that end up in the ER, that's next on The Scope.
Announcer: This is From the Front Lines with emergency room physician Dr. Troy Madsen, on The Scope.
Interviewer: Dr. Troy Madsen is an emergency room physician at University of Utah Healthcare. He wanted to talk about some common sports injuries that could end up in the ER. What are some of the things that you commonly see as a result of somebody engaging in some sort of activity?
Dr. Madsen: One of the biggest things that we see, and I think one of the biggest areas of concern recently, is concussions and head injuries. By definition, if your child gets hit in the head with a ball, or they are playing football, and they're kind of woozy afterwards, or they lose consciousness, or they're nauseated, or they have a headache, by definition they've had a concussion. So that's a case where the brains been kind of shaken up, causes those symptoms, and that can have some long-term consequences, so that's absolutely a time to get medical attention.
And then the question becomes, so okay, do they need to go to the ER right away, or can you get them in to see their pediatrician or family doctor within the next few days? So kind of the big thing there in my mind is that if they lose consciousness, if they are just not acting right, if they are vomiting, that's a reason to go to the ER.
Interviewer: Really? Just no questions asked, if those things are happening, just go?
Dr. Madsen: Just go to the ER . . .
Interviewer: It's serious enough . . .
Dr. Madsen: It is, because there I'm not just concerned about a concussion, I'm also concerned about bleeding in the head.
Interviewer: All right.
Dr. Madsen: That's a time to get a CAT scan of the brain to make sure everything looks okay there. But, if they are confused, and then they get better, they didn't lose consciousness, they're acting okay, good reason to see the family doctor, maybe not having to rush to the ER.
Interviewer: All right. And, it's becoming more and more accepted that you should go see a doctor after something like that, not just shake it off, because there are things that the doctor can recommend to help with the recovery.
Dr. Madsen: Exactly.
Interviewer: From what I understand. All right.
Dr. Madsen: And, you need to make sure they are fully recovered over a period, often of weeks, before they get back into contact sport, because if they get another concussion within that timeframe it can be much more severe.
Interviewer: That's where you're seeing a lot of the danger.
Dr. Madsen: Exactly.
Interviewer: All right. What are some of the other common sports injuries that you see, you've got concussion, what else?
Dr. Madsen: Well, one of the other common things we see are sprains and fractures. So, let's say your child is playing soccer and they roll their ankle, you may look at it, it's swollen up, and ask yourself is this a sprain, or is this something I need to get an X-ray of this? A few things can help you out there. If they are able to walk on it, at least four steps, and they are getting around okay, and let's say you pushed on the ankle on the bone and feel the outside of the leg along the bone that runs down into the ankle, and they're not really tender on there, that's a good sign. They probably don't need an X-ray right off.
Same thing with their knee, if they are able to walk on their knee, maybe it's swollen up a bit, but you push around on the bones, you push around on the knee cap, around on the side, the outside of the leg on the bone there, and they're not really tender there, those are also good signs, may not need to rush in for an X-ray. If it's a sprain, the best thing to do for it is to put some sort of elastic wrap on it, keep it elevated, you can ice it, that might help as well, um, just uh, maybe some ibuprofen can sometimes help decrease that swelling, but it's a common thing we see and often in my mind I'm asking myself the same questions, using the same things in my mind, do I need to get an X-ray or not?
Interviewer: And let's go for number three here.
Dr. Madsen: Yeah, so number and something I do occasionally see are abdominal injuries. And one of the biggest things here, kind of interestingly that we see, and again you see it in football players, soccer players, individuals in contact sports, where something like another player or the ball, comes into contact with their belly, they can get spleen injuries. So the spleen is in the left, upper-side of the abdomen, if you push there under your ribs, that's where your spleen is.
And, it's an organ that is, if you hit it hard enough, it's prone to rupture. And I've certainly seen cases of young athletes who have come in, who have been hit there, who have a lot of pain. Maybe they have pain up into their shoulder as well, it's kind of a classic sign where they get pain not only in their upper abdomen, but also in their left shoulder, we get a CAT scan and they have a ruptured spleen.
Interviewer: Wow.
Dr. Madsen: And that's an important thing to know because spleens can bleed quite a bit and certainly if they have an injury and they keep playing and they get more injured there it can be much more severe.
Interviewer: All right. And is that something that's pretty obvious that the spleen is hurt, you touch that area and there's going to be some "aagghhh".
Dr. Madsen: Exactly. Yeah, you touch that area, they're going to hurt, and again, a reason to come to the ER and get a CAT scan to look at that.
Interviewer: All right. Three common sports injuries that end up in the ER, what to look for and what to do with them. Thank you very much.
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