Football Injuries

[Ouch38]

My ambulance corps has been requested to provide a basic first aid course for the coaches and parents of our local area youth football league with an emphasis on common football or cheerleading related injuries. The idea is what to do when no EMT is at practice (all games have one) and before the 911 system goes into action. My partner and I will obviously touch on environmental injuries, basic treatments of sprains or potential breaks, S/S of concussion, how to immobilize and protect suspected c-spine injuries, CPR/AED use and when to activate the 911 system. Unfortunately we do not have a lot of time with the attendees - does anyone have any suggestions for online materials we can access and make available to them? And of course do any of you have suggestions on topics to cover? A majority of the players are under 13 and I just don't want to overlook any important topics. Thanks!

 

[Handsome Robb]

Any basic first aid text is all you will really need.

 

[Akulahawk]

Sprains, strains, dislocations, concussions... the occasional broken bone are very common. They'll see a lot of ankle sprains, usually lateral, finger sprains & dislocations, occasionally fibula or forearm breaks, at least in that age group. They'll also see concussions, though they can be difficult to spot because sometimes athletes want to keep playing, so they'll hide them as much as possible.

Environmental issues are common, especially in late summer, usually heat related. As an EMT, if you haven't had any additional education in sports med, you won't be able to get into the finer points of evaluating many of those things, and therefore, won't be able to teach that stuff. The good news is that you don't have to, and with some injuries, they can be initially treated the same way.

Any good first aid book will have most of the stuff you're looking for. As for environmental stuff, you'll want to look at the heat index for that. That's stuff you might not find specifically in most first aid books. Just do a search for the terms "heat index athletic practice" and you should see lots of recommendations for when to cancel a practice due to heat.

 

[mycrofft]

Teach the treatment basics in accordance with a source (ARC, AHA, whatever).

Remember that virtually every possible injury needs to be seen at a hospital or by a private physician due to legal liability and the fact that it is FIRST AID.

That said, get a good book or website about sports medicine and focus on immediate measures to take to ameliorate injury such as ice and compression for ortho injuries, but specify it is NOT a means to put injured players back on the field.

There are inexpensive but pretty accurate combination thermometers and humidity indicators (hygrometers) available, I bought two at Lowe's a few years ago for $20 each. You need both of those readings for your heat index.

 

[Akulahawk]

Call the local schools and/or colleges. Ask them if they have an Athletic Trainer on staff. The ATC is a specialist in the field of athletic injuries. They may be open to you asking about what stuff should be done right away that doesn't take a lot of training or expertise to ameliorate injury that occurs on the practice or game fields while waiting for EMS to arrive.

 

[Ouch38]

Thank you for your suggestions and ideas. Mostly thanks for the reminder to just concentrate on the basics...its easy to loose sight of that when we so rarely get special training requests.

I most certainly will be brushing up on environmental emergencies and the heat index, and will get on to the sports medicine sites; and I also like the idea of contacting a college or high school trainer. We have a large public high school and a major university nearby that may be a big help.

Again, thanks for the replies and ideas!!!