Supporting Your Child After a Sports Injury: 5 Crucial Tips

In the age of digital devices, it’s always a relief when your child takes an interest in sports. It builds activity into their days and potentially sets them on an enjoyable path toward fitness. 

With sports participation, however, there’s an increased risk of injury compared to sedentary activities. At Bahri Orthopedics & Sports Medicine Clinic, we’re here for your child when they suffer orthopedic injuries, a common type of sports-related downtime. 

Your support as a parent can help them cope with both the trauma of injury and impatience with recovery. This month, we’ve collected five crucial tips to help you support your child after a sports injury. 

1. Get a proper diagnosis

There’s plenty of valuable medical information available online. Perhaps even more incomplete or misinformation, so it’s difficult to sort good advice from bad. When it comes to orthopedic injuries, symptoms may be similar for conditions that require drastically different treatments. 

Start your child’s recovery off right by pursuing a valid medical diagnosis for your child’s injury. This is a major contribution toward fast, effective recovery. 

2. Consider your child’s frame of mind

A traumatic injury can, of course, be stressful for your child. Pain and physical limitations can make them scared, and even diagnostic testing can add to their fear of the unknown. 

When sports are a large part of your child’s identity, time away from the game can also remove a source of esteem and personal value. Keep calm and open with communication about how your child feels during recovery, in both physical and mental dimensions. 

3. Managing pain

There’s more to pain management than simply taking pills. Hot and cold compresses, relaxation techniques, and physical therapy exercises are all part of recovering from sports injuries and are not restricted to medical settings. 

Follow the medical advice you’re given regarding managing pain. In particular, monitor medication dosages since children are prone to a “more is better” line of reasoning. Help with other therapies when you can and encourage your child’s efforts. 

4. Aim for full recovery

Returning to training or playing before an injury has fully healed is a powerful temptation for kids who are into their sport. As a parent, you must focus on the long-term goals of injury recovery and pull in the reins when necessary. 

Injury recovery is an important aspect of doing well in their chosen sport. Coping with injury and recovery are additional skills they must master for success. 

Stress the importance of their body’s healing process and how they can promote it with healthy sleep patterns, good nutrition, hydration, and patience. 

5. Keep them connected

Remember that sports are more than simply physical activities. They’re social experiences, too, one that often teaches the value of teamwork. 

Please help your child stay connected with the team and their friends. Otherwise, recovery time may feel isolating. Don’t count on just school attendance to fill the social connection they may be missing. 

The sports injury experts at Bahri Orthopedics & Sports Medicine Clinic are your partners in your child’s recovery. Call or click to schedule an appointment with the nearest of our two Jacksonville, Florida locations when your child needs world-class care for their orthopedic sports injury.