Sprained ankles, jammed fingers, and goose eggs
on the head.
Sprained ankle, jammed finger, or getting
a goose egg on the forehead from falling and hitting your head. It swells
fast because it is bleeding into the joint and under the skin. If you cut
your leg open and it is bleeding, do you put ice on it?? No. You hold
pressure to clot the blood and stop the bleeding. So when you have
injuries, you should hold pressure … not put ice on it. But that is the
first thing coaches and parents think of and ice is the last thing to do.
First hold pressure on the forehead for 1-2 minutes. Think about when you
and I have hit our head, you held your hand on it and made it feel better.
So grad the child’s skull and hold pressure and it will make it feel better
and you will not have as much “goose egg”. Wrap a joint in the older kids.
Use tape… athletic tape from the coach or duct tape from the trunk of the
car. An ace bandage will stretch and still allow bleeding into the joint.
Leave the tape on for 12 hours. The treatment for injuries are four things
with the mnemonic word: RICE. R = rest. I = ice C = compression E =
elevate. But of all these, the most important is compression. Blood is
very important in our blood vessels but out side the vessels, it is damaging
to our body. If you wrap an injury and there is less bleeding, you recover
normal function a lot sooner and get back to playing again. Even if there
is a broken bone, there will be less damage and faster healing. So
when the child comes off the field in significant pain, wrap it
immediately. It is going to swell in minutes so use tape… not ice.
