Around 40% of children who get concussed on the sports field are not receiving the correct treatment, according to new research.
A study of 90 of an estimated 300 children who had admitted to Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital's emergency department for sports-related head injuries over six months found 27% had not been immediately assessed by qualified personnel and 28% were allowed to return to play on the day of their injury.
The study found around the 40% of children with sports-related head injuries were not given the proper treatment.
The Age newspaper has reported that most of the children who had been admitted to the emergency department (aged between 5 and 18) had reported at least one symptom of concussion. This included loss of consciousness (38%), disorientation (34%), vomiting (20%), amnesia (29%) and headache (49%).