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- Being Active
- Injury Prevention and Recovery
- Returning To Play After a Head Injury During a Sporting Event
Content Map Terms
Healthy Eating & Physical Activity Categories
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Active for Health
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Age and Stage
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Being Active
- Health Benefits of Physical Activity
- SMART Goal Setting
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Getting Started
- Getting Started: Adding More Physical Activity to Your Life
- Quick Tips: Fitting Physical Activity Into Your Day
- Quick Tips: Getting Active as a Family
- Fitness: Adding More Activity To Your Life
- Getting Started With Flexibility and Exercise
- Fitness Machines
- Fitness Clothing and Gear
- The Three Types of Physical Activity
- Overcoming Barriers: Adding More Physical Activity to your Life
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Choosing Your Activity
- How to Choose Safe Equipment
- Exercising While Sitting Down
- Fitness DVDs and Videos
- Tips for Picking the Right Activities
- Quick Tips: Getting in Shape Without Spending Money
- Fitness: Walking for Wellness
- Walk Your Way To Health
- Tai Chi and Qi Gong
- Water Exercise
- Yoga
- Bob's Story: Biking for Health
- Exercise and Physical Activity Ideas
- Fitness: Choosing Activities That Are Right for You
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Staying Active
- Fitness: Getting and Staying Active
- Fitness: Making It a Habit
- Quick Tips: Having Enough Energy to Stay Active
- Quick Tips: Staying Active at Home
- Quick Tips: Staying Active When You Travel
- Physical Activity in Winter
- Quick Tips: Staying Active in Cold Weather
- Quick Tips: Staying Active in Hot Weather
- Injury Prevention and Recovery
- Fitness and Exercise Learning Centre
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Conditions
- Diabetes and Hypoglycemia
- Eating Disorders
- Eating Right When You Have More Than One Health Problem
- Being Active When You Have Health Problems
- Physical Activity and Disease Prevention
- Anemia
- Arthritis and Osteoporosis
- Physiotherapy for Low Back Pain
- Low Back Pain: Exercises to Reduce Pain
- Cancer
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Digestive
- Managing Constipation in Adults
- Healthy Eating Guidelines for People with Diverticular Disease
- Fibre and Your Health
- Lower Fibre Food Choices
- Eating Guidelines For Gallbladder Disease
- Healthy Eating Guidelines for Irritable Bowel Syndrome
- Lactose Intolerance
- Healthy Eating Guidelines for People with Peptic Ulcers
- Bowel Disease: Changing Your Diet
- Celiac Disease: Eating a Gluten-Free Diet
- GERD: Controlling Heartburn by Changing Your Habits
- Food Allergies
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Heart
- Cardiac Rehabilitation
- Coronary Artery Disease: Exercising for a Healthy Heart
- DASH Diet Sample Menu
- Healthy Eating Guidelines for People Taking Warfarin Anticoagulants
- Healthy Eating to Lower High Blood Pressure
- Healthy Diet Guidelines for a Healthy Heart
- Heart Arrhythmias and Exercise
- Heart Failure: Eating a Healthy Diet
- Heart Failure: Track Your Weight, Food and Sodium
- Heart-Healthy Eating
- Heart-Healthy Eating: Fish and Fish Oil
- Heart-Healthy Lifestyle
- High Blood Pressure: Nutrition Tips
- High Cholesterol: How a Dietitian Can Help
- Modify Recipes for a Heart-Healthy Diet
- Peripheral Arterial Disease and Exercise
- Physical Activity Helps Prevent a Heart Attack and Stroke
- High Blood Pressure: Using the DASH Diet
- Healthy Eating: Eating Heart-Healthy Foods
- Heart Health: Walking for a Healthy Heart
- Exercise and Fibromyalgia
- Kidney and Liver
- Lupus: Healthy Eating
- Mutiple Sclerosis
- Parkinson's Disease and Exercise
- Spinal Cord
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Food and Nutrition
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Eating Habits
- Developing a Plan for Healthy Eating
- Drinking Enough Water
- Emotional Eating
- Food Journaling: How to Keep Track of What You Eat
- Healthy Eating: Getting Support When Changing Your Eating Habits
- Healthy Eating: Making Healthy Choices When You Eat Out
- Healthy Eating: Making Healthy Choices When You Shop
- Healthy Eating: Overcoming Barriers to Change
- Healthy Eating: Starting a Plan for Change
- Healthy Eating: Staying With Your Plan
- Plant-based Foods
- Sugary Drinks and Other Beverages
- Sodium
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Nutrients
- Added Sugars
- Antioxidants and Your Diet
- Choosing a Vitamin and Mineral Supplements
- Cholesterol and Triglycerides: Eating Fish and Fish Oil
- Comparing Sugar Substitute
- Dietary Fats and Your Health
- Dietary Guidelines for Good Health
- Dietary Reference Intake
- Eating Protein
- Calcium and Your Health
- Food Sources of Vitamin K
- Getting Enough Calcium and Vitamin D
- Getting Enough Fibre
- Getting Enough Folic Acid
- Getting Enough Iron
- Healthy Eating: Cutting Unhealthy Fats From Your Diet
- High Potassium Eating
- Iron and Your Health
- Iron in Foods
- Low-Potassium Foods
- Minerals: Their Functions and Sources
- Non-Milk Sources of Calcium
- Quick Nutrition Check for Protein
- Quick Nutrition Check for Protein: Sample Menus
- Quick Nutrition Check for Vitamin B12
- Types of Fats
- Vitamins: Their Functions and Sources
- Food Labels
- Plan, Shop and Prepare
- Food, Water and Beverage Safety
- Canada's Food Guide FAQs
- Food Security
- Vegetarian Diets
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Eating Habits
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Healthy Weights
- About Healthy Weights
- Genetic Influences on Weight
- Screening for Weight Problems
- Unplanned Weight Loss
- Quick Tips: Cutting Calories
- Physical Activity for Weight Loss
- Weight Loss by Limiting Calories
- Tips for Maintaining Weight Loss
- Choosing a Weight-Loss Program
- Boosting Your Metabolism
- Exercise Helps Maggie Stay at a Healthy Weight
- Healthy Eating: Recognizing Your Hunger Signals
- Hunger, Fullness, and Appetite Signals
- Weight Management
- Weight Management: Stop Negative Thoughts
- Maggie's Strategies for Eating Healthy
- Maggie: Making Room for Worth-It Foods
- Maggie's Story: Making Changes for Her Health
- Weight Management Centre
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Policies and Guidelines
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Guidelines for Food and Beverage Sales in BC Schools
- Guidelines for Food and Beverage Sales: Making Bake Sales Delicious and Nutritious
- Guidelines for Food and Beverage Sales: Boosting the Sales of Nutritious Food in Schools
- Guidelines for Food and Beverage Sales: Food Fundraiser Ideas for Schools
- Guidelines for Food and Beverage Sales: Involving Everyone in Implementing the Guidelines
- Guidelines for Food and Beverage Sales: Selling Food and Beverages at School Sporting Events
- Guidelines for Food and Beverage Sales: Planning Healthy Cafeteria Menus
- Healthier Choices in Vending Machines
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Guidelines for Food and Beverage Sales in BC Schools
- Provincial Nutrition Resource Inventory
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Forms and Tools
- Walking Log
- Exercise Planning Form
- Physical Activity Log
- Par-Q+ and ePARmed-X+
- Target Heart Rate
- Interactive Tool: What is Your Target Heart Rate
- Borg-Rating of Perceived Exertion Scale
- Overview of BC Provincial and Federal Nutrition Benefits Programs
- Body Mass Index (BMI)
- Body Mass Index (BMI) for Adults
- Interactive Tool: Do Your BMI and Waist Size Increase Your Health Risks?
- Measuring Your Waist
- Body Fat Testing
- Fitness: Using a Pedometer, Step Counter, or Wearable Device
- Email a HealthLinkBC Dietitian
- Email a Qualified Exercise Professional
British Columbia Specific Information
Knowing the signs and symptoms of a serious head injury will help you get the right care. Speak with a health care provider about the injury as soon as possible. If you think a head injury might be serious, call 9-1-1 or visit an emergency department right away. For non-emergency information or advice, call 8-1-1 to speak with a registered nurse any time of the day, every day of the year.
If your child’s health care provider finds no signs of a serious head injury, you may be advised to monitor your child in the hours, days and weeks following the injury. Only when your child’s health care provider advises you that it is safe for your child to go home in your care, follow the advice on caring for your child at home: Parachute: Concussion guide for parents and caregivers.
For more information about head injury, including concussion recognition, diagnosis, treatment and management, see:
Topic Contents
Overview
Anyone who has a head injury during a sporting event needs to immediately stop all activity and not return to play that day. Being active again before the brain returns to normal functioning increases the person's risk of having a more serious brain injury.
Every person involved in a sporting event (every coach, player, teacher, parent, and trainer) needs to be trained to know the symptoms of a concussion. And all need to know the importance of getting medical help when a player has a head injury.
The decision about when a player can safely return to play must be made by a doctor. The doctor decides on a case-by-case basis. Things that help the doctor decide when the player can return to play include:
- The symptoms the player has.
- The player's medical history.
- The player's concussion history.
- The player's medicine use.
- The type of sport and the position played.
- The player's ability to stand and keep his or her balance.
- The player's ability to pay attention and to answer questions that test learning and memory.
- How quickly the player can solve problems.
Doctors and other concussion specialists agree that a player must not return to play until symptoms are completely gone, both at rest and during exercise or exertion. Using medicine to improve concussion symptoms is not the same thing as being symptom-free. Medicines must be stopped before an athlete can be considered symptom-free. Children and teens have longer recovery times. So they may have to wait longer before they can return to play.
In most places, a doctor must give written permission for children and teens to begin the steps and return to sports. This is also a good idea for adults.
The first treatment for a concussion is 1 to 2 days of rest, both physical and mental. After resting, the athlete can gradually increase activity as long as it does not cause new symptoms or worsen his or her symptoms.
The athlete should slowly progress through the following levels of activity:footnote 1, footnote 2
- Limited activity. The athlete can take part in daily activities as long as the activity doesn't increase symptoms or cause new symptoms.
- Light aerobic activity. This can include walking, swimming, or other exercise at less than 70% maximum heart rate. No resistance training is included in this step.
- Sport-specific exercise. This includes skating drills or running drills (depending on the sport) but no head impact.
- Non-contact training drills. This includes more complex training drills such as passing. The athlete may also begin light resistance training.
- Full-contact practice. The athlete can participate in normal training.
- Return to play. This is the final step and allows the athlete to join in normal game play.
The athlete must be symptom-free for 24 hours at the current level of activity before moving on to the next step. If one or more symptoms return, the player needs to go back to the previous level of activity with no symptoms for at least 24 hours before trying to do more. A doctor must always make the final decision about whether a player is ready to return to full-contact play.
These general rules apply to return to play after a first concussion. After more than one concussion, the player will most likely need a longer recovery time. Because the risk for a second concussion is greatest within 10 days of the first concussion, it's very important to make sure the player is completely recovered before he or she returns to play. A second injury, even if it is not a head injury, could cause permanent brain damage or death.
Related Information
References
Citations
- McCrory P, et al. (2017). Consensus statement on concussion in sport—The 5th international conference on concussion in sport held in Berlin, October 2016. British Journal of Sports Medicine, published online April 26, 2017. DOI: 10.1136/bjsports-2017-097699. Accessed November 10, 2017.
- Parachute (2017). Canadian guideline on concussion in sport. Toronto: Parachute. http://www.parachutecanada.org/downloads/injurytopics/Canadian_Guideline_on_Concussion_in_Sport-Parachute.pdf. Accessed November 27, 2017.
Credits
Current as of: August 25, 2022
Author: Healthwise Staff
Medical Review:
Anne C. Poinier MD - Internal Medicine
Donald Sproule MDCM, CCFP - Family Medicine
Adam Husney MD - Family Medicine
Martin J. Gabica MD - Family Medicine
E. Gregory Thompson MD - Internal Medicine
Kathleen Romito MD - Family Medicine
William H. Blahd Jr. MD, FACEP - Emergency Medicine
Current as of: August 25, 2022
Author: Healthwise Staff
Medical Review:Anne C. Poinier MD - Internal Medicine & Donald Sproule MDCM, CCFP - Family Medicine & Adam Husney MD - Family Medicine & Martin J. Gabica MD - Family Medicine & E. Gregory Thompson MD - Internal Medicine & Kathleen Romito MD - Family Medicine & William H. Blahd Jr. MD, FACEP - Emergency Medicine
This information does not replace the advice of a doctor. Healthwise, Incorporated disclaims any warranty or liability for your use of this information. Your use of this information means that you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Learn how we develop our content.
Healthwise, Healthwise for every health decision, and the Healthwise logo are trademarks of Healthwise, Incorporated.
Contact Physical Activity Services
If you have questions about physical activity or exercise, call 8-1-1 (or 7-1-1 for the deaf and hard of hearing) toll-free in B.C. Our qualified exercise professionals are available Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm Pacific Time. You can also leave a message after hours.
Translation services are available in more than 130 languages.
HealthLinkBC’s qualified exercise professionals can also answer your questions by email.
Contact a Dietitian
If you have any questions about healthy eating, food, or nutrition, call 8-1-1 (or 7-1-1 for the deaf and hard of hearing) toll-free in B.C. You can speak to a health service navigator who can connect you with one of our registered dietitians, who are available 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday. You can also leave a message after hours.
Translations services are available in more than 130 languages.
HealthLinkBC Dietitians can also answer your questions by email.