Narrator >> Hi, my name’s Liam and I love playing basketball.
I play every week with my team, The Lightning, except a few months ago I didn’t get to play at all for a while. That’s because I fell and got something called a concussion.
I had heard about concussions before. Like I knew that a concussion happens when you fall or get hit so hard your brain gets hurt. I also knew you don’t have to hit your head to get one. Once, my cousin got a concussion when someone ran into him playing football.
I got hurt once, too. They did an X-ray because they thought I broke my ankle. But it was just a sprain. Having a concussion was really different, though. I didn’t have a bruise or anything. But it was still really serious and there were some special things I had to do to get better.
Everyone can do things to protect their brain. Make sure you wear the right gear for your sport, that it’s in good shape and it fits you right. You also need to follow all the rules. In basketball we’re not allowed to push another player or hit people with our elbows.
At the start of the season, our coach talked to us about our “Concussion Code of Conduct.” It’s not like a secret code, though. Everyone knows about it and promises to follow it. It means doing the right things like respecting each other and letting an adult know if someone gets hurt.
When I tripped and hit my head on the floor, I got up and wanted to keep playing. But my coach said that even if I felt OK, I had to come off the court. I agreed to our code, so I knew I should talk to a grown-up – like my coach or ref or parent - if I got hurt. You need to get help because if you keep playing when you’re injured, you might make things worse. So even though I really wanted to keep playing I told my coach my head was hurting.
There are lots of different ways you might feel or act if you hurt your brain and get a concussion. That’s because the brain controls a lot of things, like thinking, and remembering and moving. The ways a concussion affects you are called symptoms.
My coach asked me if I felt other things beside my headache, like if I felt dizzy or sick to my stomach. She also asked if the lights seemed really bright or if some things sounded louder than usual. She told me some symptoms don’t happen right away and can show up later. Like it might be hard to think or remember stuff that just happened – or you might feel like your brain is foggy or slow. Concussions can also make you feel really upset or grumpy. It can even be hard to get to sleep or you might be really tired and want to sleep a lot.
I was upset that I had to sit out and couldn’t go back to the game. It helped when my coach told me most people get better from a concussion as long you get help and rest your brain.
So, the first lesson is, if you hurt your head, you need to stop playing right away. If someone hits you or you fall and hurt your head, stop and sit out.
And the second lesson is to tell a grownup if you don’t feel OK. The sooner you tell someone, the better.
My mom came and took me to our medical doctor. I thought I might get an X-ray like with my ankle but the medical doctor said a concussion doesn’t show up in pictures. She just asked me some more questions and checked a couple things – nothing scary!
The medical doctor said I had a concussion and I needed to take it easy and rest. She said it was like when I sprained my ankle and I had to stop playing for a while. But this time it was my brain that needed to get better.
She said I needed to take time off from school and I couldn’t play basketball until I was better. My school and basketball team have special plans I had to follow before I could return safely. The medical doctor also said I needed to pay attention to how I was feeling. I should stop doing things if they made my headache worse or if I got other concussion symptoms.
I guess lesson three is that it’s super-duper important to see a medical doctor or a nurse practitioner so they can tell you how to get better!
Most people get better quickly. But sometimes, it takes a long time to feel better after a concussion. Some people might have headaches or problems remembering things or just don’t feel right for a long time.
It sounds weird but it was hard to stay home from school. Watching TV and looking at my tablet made my head and eyes hurt and I couldn’t read more than a few pages of my book. Sometimes I felt OK in the morning but when I did a lot of stuff in a row, I felt worse again.
The fourth lesson is take it slow and take lots of breaks. Everyone’s concussion is different and everyone gets better in a different way.
After a couple of days, I started feeling better. I could read a whole chapter of my book. My dad and I walked to the store and I didn’t get a headache.
The medical doctor said that once I could do things like that without getting any of my concussion symptoms I could move to the next step. At each step you try to do a bit more for a bit longer. As long as you feel OK you can go to the next step. The next step for me was being allowed to shoot some hoops in our yard for 15 minutes.
I was kind of nervous when they let me practise with my team again. But everyone knew I was recovering from my concussion so they were extra careful not to make contact with me – not even a little bit. My teammates asked how I was doing and said they’d missed me. One even asked what it felt like to have a concussion and I got to tell them about the lessons I learned…just like I am telling you!
Now that I don’t have any more symptoms of my concussion and I’m back at school, including homework, my medical doctor said I can go back to playing in regular games just like before. Now I’m smarter about concussions and I know how important and awesome my brain is. And so is yours! Don’t forget the lessons from this video so you can keep safe and keep playing the sport you love…just like I love basketball.
[Title: This video is part of a series of Rowan's Law concussion awareness resources. Rowan's Law was named for Rowan Stringer, who was a high school rugby player from Ottawa. One day, while playing rugby with her team, Rowan got a concussion. Most people with a concussion get better after they rest and heal. But Rowan didn’t know her brain was hurt and needed time to heal. Her parents, teachers and coaches didn’t know, either. So, Rowan kept playing rugby. She got hurt two more times. Rowan’s brain was so badly hurt that she couldn’t get better.]
[Title: This resource is not meant to replace medical advice about your health care. For more information about concussions please speak with a medical doctor or nurse practitioner.]