Staying Aware | Preventing sports injuries for athletes

HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHP) — For some students, back to school means the start of school athletics again. CBS 21’s Candace Scalese sat down with an orthopedic surgeon from UPMC to find out how you or your kids can stay safe on the field.

Doctor Tim Ackerman says the best thing you can do as an athlete is take proper steps to prevent a sports injury.

Those steps include the following:

• Cardio conditioning
• Sport-specific drills
• Preparing mentally
• Proper recovery
• Nutrition

If you do suffer an injury, it’s important to seek out professional help.

“If you think you have a concussion, you have a concussion. If the trainer thinks you have a concussion, you have concussion. These are traumatic brain injuries and they’re not to be taken lightly. So your symptoms from this, usually direct contract injury with football, rugby, hockey, soccer from hitting,” said Dr. Ackerman.

“Symptoms like dizziness, lightheadedness, confusion, these will be assessed. If you think you have any of these please see your trainer or see a specific physician that specializes in concussions. Second impact syndrome from concussions is deadly. 50 percent deadly, meaning if you have a concussion and you get hit again, its highly fatal so it’s not something we take lightly. So that’s a major important think we look at with injuries,” added Dr. Ackerman.