Henry Mayo Newhall Urgent Care Spring is here, and so are SPORTS!

April marks National Facial Protection Month, a good time to remind those of you getting out on the field or on the court to protect your face and head. With the coming of spring, we will begin to see injuries in our Urgent Care and our Emergency Department. Several injuries we do see can be prevented by wearing helmets and mouth guards when appropriate.
It is well known that wearing a helmet can save your life. Not only that, but it can also lessen the severity of injury upon impact when engaging in high impact sports such as football, or even something of seemingly lesser impact risk like riding your electric scooter through our city paseos.
Unfortunately, in cases where helmets are not worn, a very common injury we see is a concussion. A concussion, also known as a mild traumatic brain injury (or mild TBI), can cause some physical and cognitive symptoms, emotional changes, and trouble sleeping. In some cases, the injury to the brain is greater than it initially seems, showing progressively worse signs and symptoms, that may require emergency medical attention and sometimes surgical intervention. So as an important reminder, let’s be safe and ensure we wear that helmet when engaging in activity where there is a risk for head injury.
Wearing a mouth guard in high-impact scenarios is also recommended to avoid potential unwanted dental injuries needing medical or dental intervention
A big part of caring for our community is to offer helpful reminders on prevention. Therefore, as we gear up to get back out there and have some fun this season, let’s make sure to gear up all the way, and protect our face and head.
And should you end up hurting yourself, we are here to help! Happy spring!