When you get sick, doctors usually advise you to rest, stay hydrated, and rest until you feel better. For children who play sports, it can be difficult to slow down activity when they are sick. Athletes feel left out when they miss practices and games, and worry about falling behind in their conditioning.
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Resting after catching COVID-19 is especially important for children who play sports. Pediatric cardiologist Akash Patel, MD, explains why not everyone who has had COVID-19 can start playing sports again right away — and how athletes can safely return to competition.
How do you know it’s safe to return to sports?
Dr Patel says most children who have had COVID-19 can play sports again. Read also : “Miracle Bash, Swim For Melissa” continues with the purchase of high-tech respiratory equipment for regional neonatal intensive care – The Madison Record. However, when they return to the field or field depends on the severity of their symptoms and how affected they are by the infection.
“The vast majority of children can return after their symptoms resolve,” says Dr Patel. “But if the symptoms are more significant, it’s worth being reviewed by a primary care provider before engaging in sports or exercise.”
Fatigue is a common symptom of COVID-19. But the virus can cause a variety of respiratory symptoms, including blocked sinuses, chest discomfort and shortness of breath. In more severe cases, COVID-19 can also affect internal organs such as your heart.
“When your child has the flu or a cold, they may have some of these respiratory symptoms. And you might be thinking, “Well, those aren’t heart symptoms. These are just symptoms of the flu,” notes Dr. Patel. “But COVID is new, and we’re still learning about it.”
Dr Patel explains how to tell when your child can return to sport, divided by the severity of COVID-19 infection.
Mild COVID-19 symptoms
In this group are children who had had mild symptoms of COVID-19. “This is the typical upper respiratory tract infection,” says Dr. To see also : Differences in the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines in the United States. Patel. “Viral symptoms last less than seven days and do not involve high fever for more than four days.”
Children can start playing sports again “relatively soon”, he adds. In a case like this, an athlete should avoid playing sports until they have completed quarantine or self-isolation, which is usually five to 10 days, and wait to play. until his symptoms are resolved. Dr. Patel also advises following up with their primary care provider to ensure they are healthy and recovered.
Moderate COVID-19 symptoms
The second group includes children who have had more severe or moderate COVID-19 and are taking longer to recover. “These are children who had symptoms for more than seven days and had a high fever for more than four days,” says Dr Patel. This may interest you : How RNA science will change our lives. “These are also children who had to be hospitalized because they developed pneumonia.”
Dr Patel says it is best for this group to also let all symptoms resolve before resuming sport. “It can take a week to two weeks. You’re also likely to follow up with your primary care provider to make sure everything is okay before returning to sport.
He adds that it’s important to let doctors know if your child has had heart symptoms as part of COVID-19. “If they’ve had chest pain or discomfort, they may have an EKG as part of this assessment to rule it out,” says Dr. Patel. “If that EKG looks normal, it’s clear they can return to sport. If not, they’ll be referred to a cardiologist.
Severe COVID-19 symptoms
In rare and serious cases, viral infections such as the flu or COVID-19 can be serious. They can affect multiple organ systems. With COVID-19, children may have had to be in the intensive care unit.
Like the flu, COVID-19 can cause myocarditis, or inflammation of the heart. This is a serious condition that requires medical attention and caution before resuming sport.
“Even though these symptoms go away fairly quickly, we generally recommend that children stay off sports for three to six months,” says Dr Patel. “Although their symptoms have resolved, there may be small changes in the heart that we don’t see on an exam, EKG, or even an ultrasound of the heart.”
The concern is that these changes can put someone at risk for a life-threatening arrhythmia or irregular heartbeat, says Dr Patel. “We really want to allow the heart to fully recover from this type of viral heart infection before returning to sport.”
Signs of myocarditis
Myocarditis can occur quickly. Dr Patel says a child can become “very sick” within 12 to 24 hours of the onset of the infection.
But not all insects a child catches are myocarditis. The difference is that someone has symptoms of a viral infection – for example, possibly a gastric bug with vomiting, diarrhea and constipation – and specific cardiac symptoms involving their heart.
“Usually when you think of myocarditis it’s usually in the context of some kind of viral symptoms – so fevers, runny nose, something that would suggest a virus is affecting them. And you superimpose the heart symptoms on top of that.
Symptoms of myocarditis can include:
A doctor is key to determining what a child is going through, says Dr. Patel. “Usually when you’re assessed there are tests that can be done to help determine if there’s myocarditis – or if it’s just a viral infection that’s making you feel lousy.”
Other heart-related symptoms caused by a viral infection
When the heart is infected with a virus, a child may develop additional symptoms that resemble signs of heart failure. “When you have a viral infection of the heart, the heart doesn’t squeeze as well,” says Dr. Patel. “And so it’s hard for the heart to pump blood.”
Keep an eye on viral symptoms
For children who have COVID-19 or any other viral infection, it is important to monitor them and ensure that their illness follows the typical course of a cough or cold. “Are they starting to get better?” says Dr. Patel. “Or do they not follow the typical course of progression and they look worse? This should always prompt an evaluation. Worsening of symptoms — or symptoms that don’t improve — could be a sign of a serious illness, such as pneumonia.
As far as athletes are concerned, it is more important than ever to rest if they feel a little unwell and not play with the symptoms of illness. COVID-19 is still circulating, and it’s not necessarily easy to tell at first if that tickle in your throat is a cold or something more serious.
“With anything, you have to use your best judgment,” notes Dr. Patel. “But at the end of the day, you want to play sports safely. And the best way to exercise is to be 100% healthy. And if you’re not 100% healthy, you won’t be able to perform at your peak.
Take any symptoms of illness seriously, rest and rehydrate. If you have any questions, contact your primary care provider. And make sure your child is better before re-engaging.
“The fall season is starting soon and the kids are starting to play fall sports,” says Dr. Patel. “It’s good to enjoy the summer, make sure the kids are healthy – and then make sure they get tested before the fall starts so they have a year successful school sportsman.”
