Ouch! Learn about concussions before they happen.

Is your child going out for sports this year? This article gives great info on concussions and their treatment. And make sure to get them a baseline concussion test before any potential injuries!

Read it here: http://www.uiltexas.org/files/health/2011-NFHS-SMAC-Suggested-Guidelines-for-Management-of-Concussion-in-Sports.pdf

Tsunamis?! But we live in SA!

This week, Dr. Rat­ner tells us about prepar­ing for the unex­pected. What’s in your emer­gency kit?

Dr. Rat­ner

Most of us here in San Anto­nio do not know that this week is Tsunami Pre­pared­ness week. Just because San Anto­nio is only a lit­tle more likely than Salt Lake City to suf­fer the direct effects of a tsunami there are lots of lessons we can learn from this week.

1. Really bad things hap­pen, even if they’re not very likely to hap­pen. So, do you need life vests? Prob­a­bly not, but you should think of some basic items and pro­ce­dures for any unplanned cat­a­stro­phe. Events that hap­pen far away can have rip­ple effects. Are you pre­pared if your plant closes down because you can’t get parts or your cus­tomers are unavailable?
2. We may not be at risk for a tsunami, but what about a flash flood?
3. How hard would it be to store 5 gal­lons of water and a few days of canned or dehy­drated foods, or some mac­a­roni and cheese for each mem­ber of your house­hold? You could fit a few days’ worth under each person’s bed.
4. Can you put together a small plas­tic type tool­box with a few screw­drivers, a pair of pli­ers, some duct tape, a util­ity knife, some zip ties, a hack­saw and a flashlight?
5. Take a few min­utes and dis­cuss with your fam­ily and your extended fam­ily where and when you will meet in the event of fire, black­outs or other disasters.
6. Once a month buy a few extra AA, AAA,C, D and 9 volt bat­ter­ies, and switch out your used bat­ter­ies with your cur­rent stock. This will prove very use­ful if there’s a power outage.

This is not an all-encompassing list, but it is easy, inex­pen­sive and really use­ful when the expected happens.

It’s not some­thing we want to think about every day, but if we’re pre­pared it can turn a dis­as­trous sit­u­a­tion into some­thing that’s just dif­fi­cult. The Amer­i­can Red Cross has some great resources and advice for all kinds of sit­u­a­tions here. And a tool to help you esti­mate how much you’ll need of every­thing here based on your house­hold. Always remem­ber we’re here to help at IUC, but we hope you have a happy and safe weekend!

The unex­pected strikes…unexpectedly.

Photo credit: United Nations Devel­op­ment Pro­gramme / Foter.com / CC BY

Brain Awareness Week (or how to avoid Zombification from a concussion)

This week, be aware of your brain. Your delicious, delicious brain. Not only are they great for feeding your zombies, the gooey center in all of our skulls are extremely important! Here's our own Dr. Ratner weighing in on why concussion baseline screenings are so important:

It is amazing that we are generally so unaware of the organ that does the most for us. Here at Impact we value your brain! Well, most of your brain, anyway. One of the best things you can do as a teenager who is involved with sports is to get a baseline concussion screening. We do not charge for this test. It involves playing a computer game for about 25 minutes. There are no needles, no radiation, or tubes to be stuffed into your nose.  If you ever sustain a head injury or concussion, we repeat the test post-injury and the results help us to determine when it is safe to return to normal activity.

We know so much more about this subject than we did ten years ago. I compare it to seat belts. There was a time when seat belts were not used, but at some point we learned that without a doubt they save lives. It was not easy to convince some people, but now the majority of Americans believe it and wear seat belts. It won’t be long before the same type of paradigm shift occurs when it comes to concussion awareness and management.

So come on by either location, any day between 8AM-8PM for your baseline concussion screening BEFORE you get hurt. That way if you should have a head injury, we can make sure you're back to normal before  you run off into another potential head-bashing opportunity.

Concussions

by Dr. Evan Ratner M.D.

The topic of concussions in athletes has really been in the spotlight recently. There have been multiple stories on the local and national news, newspapers, and the most recent cover of Sports Illustrated.

From the NFL to the NCAA  to the UIL recognition of this all to common injury has come to the forefront of our awareness.  We have successfully managed  athletes who have sustained concussions over the past several months.

Some athletes have been cleared to return to play earlier than expected, and some have required a longer recuperation period.  By recognizing and properly managing concussion syndromes we hope to prevent the long term effects of repetitive, cumulative head injuries.

Impact Urgent Care has become a leader in neurocognitive testing for concussion management in San Antonio.

Although football may be the most widely recognized high risk sport, there are other high risk sports including soccer, cheerleading, lacrosse, basketball, baseball and bicycling. The optimal management includes obtaining a baseline study on any athlete at risk for head injury. If an injury occurs than those baseline results can be compared to a post - injury test to optimize the management of that injury.        

 The baseline study takes about 30 minutes and costs  no more than 10 dollars. A small investment of time and money can really make a difference when it comes to caring for concussions.