In 2004 the Centers for Disease Control estimated that over 400,000 children and adolescents were treated in emergency rooms for sports and activity-related concussions. You don’t have to be “knocked out” to have a concussion. In fact, fewer than 10% of concussions result in loss of consciousness.

The Concussion Clinic at Nationwide Children’s Hospital utilizes the expertise of pediatric Sports Medicine specialists and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation specialists, along with neurologists, neurosurgeons, radiologists, neuropsychologists and athletic trainers to best manage pediatric concussions.

The Dangers of Concussions

If recognized and treated properly, most children will recover fully from a single concussion. However, kids who sustain multiple concussions over a young sports career tend to take longer to recover each time and are more likely to experience prolonged post concussion symptoms or cognitive impairment.

A more important risk is something only seen in kids, Second Impact Syndrome (SIS). With SIS, under rare and unpredictable circumstances, a child sustains a second (even minor) trauma to the head while not yet recovered from a previous concussion, which can result in a potentially deadly cascade of events that causes rapid brain swelling.

For your convenience, the Concussion Clinic is available four days a week and at two locations:

Nationwide Children’s Hospital Main Campus
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Outpatient Care Center
555 South 18th Street, 1A
Columbus, Ohio 43205
Mon: 1 – 4 pm; Thurs: 1 – 4 pm

Sports Medicine and Orthopedic Center
584 County Line Road West
Westerville, Ohio 43082
Tues: 8 – 11 am; Fri: 8 – 11 am

Learn about the dangers of returning to play before fully recovering from a concussion (provided by the Center for Injury Research and Policy at the Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital) .

Click here to Arrange a Consult in the Concussion Clinic or Call (614) 722-6200 (select option #3 and then option #4).

Neurocognitive (Concussion) Testing

Learn about our Neurocognitive (Concussion) Testing including how to contact us to have your child tested.