New guidelines for childhood concussion

New international guidelines for children suffering sport-related concussion have been set.

Australian researchers from the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute have found children aged between 5-18 years old take longer to recover than adults.

Dr Michael Takagi, neuropsychologist at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, says the average time has been set at four weeks.

“Children take a little bit longer to recover relative to adults,” Dr. Takagi told 3AW Breakfast.

“Adults recover in about two weeks, whereas we found children take four weeks.”

He says there is no evidence to suggest a child would suffer long-term effects from a standard concussion.

But recovery needs to be steady.

“The process we recommend is after injury, children take a few days to recover and gradually return to normal activity.”

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