Pediatric and Adolescent Concussion: Diagnosis, Management, and Outcomes

Between the growing numbers of children and adolescents playing sports and the increased attention to head injuries by the larger sports community and the general public, pediatric concussions are emerging as a major concern. And as practitioners are seeing more young clients with head injuries, questions arise about age-appropriate assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and return to activity. Pediatric and Adolescent Concussion: Diagnosis, Management, and Outcomes offers evidence-based guidelines where few previously existed. This comprehensive volume clearly explains the effects of traumatic injury on the developing brain in sports- and non-sports-related contexts, and establishes a framework for immediate and long-term management, especially the crucial first 24 hours. Chapters provide a basic grounding in its subject with a history of concussion as a medical entity and a review of definitional and classification issues, take the reader through the steps of a neuropsychological evaluation, pinpoint post-injury issues, and offer strategies for the prevention of further or future injury. Pediatric and Adolescent Concussion: Diagnosis, Management, and Outcomes serves as both educational resource and practical framework for a wide array of professionals, including neuropsychologists, sports medicine physicians, child psychologists and psychiatrists, pediatric and family physicians, athletic trainers, social workers, and educators.