What rides would you skip after concussion?

[marciemi]

First, let me preface this by saying that we went to my son's doctor and he said he is FINE to ride anything he wants to - that he sees no reason he couldn't ride anything at Disney, barring any sudden changes in his condition between now and then! That said, let me add that I'm just an overprotective mom who has read a lot about concussion and future issues with headaches/concentration, etc. and am just being a bit overcautious! Just curious if others would agree with me on the rides I'm thinking of in particular!

My son is 17 and pulled a pullup bar down onto his head as he hit the ground last week (don't ask! ). He didn't have unconsciousness, but did suffer a severe memory loss that evening - forgetting literally everything from the previous 3 or so months, and not being able to remember anything we told him (he must have asked "so what happened?" at least 50 times while we were in the ER). He had a CT scan, several neurological tests, and everything came back fine then and 2 days later when he was retested and he also regained his memory totally (except the actual fall and a couple hours afterwards) by the next morning. Again - his regular doctor, the ER doctor, and the neuro said he'd be fine for our trip in 20 days (from today). Since he was there in 2009 I don't feel totally guilty if he misses a few rides. However, he'll be down for a band trip and with his friends, so I won't have control of what he actually rides! But....these are the rides I'm thinking he should skip - just curious about other people's thoughts:

Magic Kingdom
Space Mountain (this will be hard since he loves it and missed it in 2009 since it was closed)
Thunder Mountain (am I overreacting with this one?)
Splash will be closed so not an issue

Epcot
Mission Space - adamantly (which he won't care about)
Test Track is his all time favorite ride so I'm thinking/hoping that will be okay - thoughts?
Also thinking Soarin' will be fine.

DHS
RnRC - he won't care about this
Again, thinking ToT will be fine?

Animal Kingdom
Everest (another hard one)
Dinosaur (he won't care)
Primeval Whirl is closed while we're there - adamantly a no from me!
Safari's - thinking this is okay?

Anyone willing to offer an opinion?! Thanks so much!

 

[Janepod]

Wow, yikes! Sorry to hear that about your son! Glad he is doing better.

I would get a second opinion, closer to the time of your trip (maybe a week before?) and go with that. If the doctor clears him, I'm sure he's fine. Just maybe make him wear a helmet

 

[macraven]

ouch............

that must have hurt!!


i say don't worry about the rides.
he'll be fine.

he is a very smart teenager.
if he goes on a ride and feels uneasy after it, he'll be wise and will probably use caution for the rest of the trip.

 

[maxiesmom]

If the doctor says he is ok, they I wouldn't come up with a list on your own. At that age he should be able to tell if he starts feeling funny after a ride, and know enough to take it a bit easy. I think that is more the talk you should be having with him, how to take care of himself while he is there. Why second guess your doctor and place unncecessary restrictions on your son?

 

[duffy]

If the doctor says he is ok, they I wouldn't come up with a list on your own. At that age he should be able to tell if he starts feeling funny after a ride, and know enough to take it a bit easy. I think that is more the talk you should be having with him, how to take care of himself while he is there. Why second guess your doctor and place unncecessary restrictions on your son?

 

[justakrazymom]

As a mom who's son had a very bad concussion 2.5 years ago ( took him 4 months to recover)..if your Dr says his concussion wasn't bad and he's clear I'd say he's fine. My son had to go to a special clinic and pass a test ( took 4 times ) before he was cleared that's how bad it was . I am usually very protective too. If your really worried just have him seen a few days before the trip.. it's pretty easy to do an in office neuro exam and the Dr can be sure he's good to go!

 

[sam_gordon]

I understand being concerned for your son's health. But a couple things stick out at me...

A) He's 17. To me, that means he's old enough to make his own ride decisions. He may make a bad decision, but it's up to him.
B) You won't be around to regulate what rides he goes on anyway. So what good would a list do?
C) You not only got a 2nd opinion, but a 3rd. (not that there's anything wrong with that). All three doctors have said he can ride anything. Now, you might have simply asked the doctor's about "Disney" rides, you might want to ask them about roller coasters (in case they don't realize there are coasters at WDW).

The trip will have been a month after the accident... there are football players who return to full contact within a week or two after suffering a concussion. I say "let him ride"

 

[winterman]

The only ride that I would avoid is the orange side of Mission Space.

 

[Lou Holtz]

None of the rides involve blows to the head, so he should be fine.

 

[OhThePain]

I suffered a head injury a little less than 2 weeks before a trip when I was 13 While playing a scrimmage for my baseball team, I was catching, there was a play at the plate, I took the baserunners helmet to my face and my head hit home plate pretty hard. I was out cold for a few minutes and had the same sort of issues your son had. I was cleared to ride anything I wanted to as well and never had any other side affects after the initial accident. The only things that came up was that the stitches were due to be taken out while away, which we found a local clinic right off the property to remove them for me. I would leave it up to your son. Stress that he doesn't push himself too hard, but if he is feeling good he can make his own decisions.

Also, it would be a pretty cool move on your part to give him that responsibility. If he is 17, and college is just around the corner, it might help those college tensions if he knows that you have some faith in him to make the right choices on his own. I don't know what his or your plans are for when that time comes, all I am saying is it is something to consider.

 

[keishashadow]

My son is 17 and pulled a pullup bar down onto his head as he hit the ground last week (don't ask! ). He didn't have unconsciousness, but did suffer a severe memory loss that evening - forgetting literally everything from the previous 3 or so months, and not being able to remember anything we told him (he must have asked "so what happened?" at least 50 times while we were in the ER). He had a CT scan, several neurological tests, and everything came back fine then and 2 days later when he was retested and he also regained his memory totally (except the actual fall and a couple hours afterwards) by the next morning. Again - his regular doctor, the ER doctor, and the neuro said he'd be fine for our trip in 20 days (from today). Since he was there in 2009 I don't feel totally guilty if he misses a few rides. However, he'll be down for a band trip and with his friends, so I won't have control of what he actually rides! But....these are the rides I'm thinking he should skip - just curious about other people's thoughts:


Anyone willing to offer an opinion?! Thanks so much!

my kids have had sports-related concussions, most have had 2 . I insisted they each have a MRI after their 1st concussion, even after CT gave the all-clear, generally it wound up it wasn't yet resolved. Wouldn't worry to that degree if it's his 1st one though and drs/specialist have cleared him.

It's my understanding that any issue that might crop up would probably manifest itself within 3 weeks before your trip, so i think you're safe if you keep an eye on him.

will state i had a 'mild' concussion (probably my 3rdor 4th) 2 weeks before dec '09 trip. I just wasn't feeling right, so dr ran the MRI the night before we left. Results confirmed concussion and he advised against the trip. Naturally, I disregarded his advice & I went figuring i'd go 'slow'. The airplane ride was the issue for me. I developed horrible head & eye-aches during the way down that lasted for 1st few days of trip.

We took a break later mid week to head to gulf to snorkle w/manatees & did Sea World one day (i skipped the coasters). It seemed to break the cycle and I was fine the rest of the trip, even plane ride home. If he does have any issues after riding, perhaps a day or 2 'down' with less agressive rides would be the way to go. The only 2 rides that caused issue with me were SM & Everest.

 

[robinb]

If ALL the doctors say he's OK to ride, then he's OK to ride. I understand wanting to be cautious, but he's nearly an adult and old enough to make his own decisions. Any self-respecting 17-year old boy would chafe under his overprotective mom telling him what he can and can't ride when his doctors gave him the "all clear". Time to "Let the Cub decide what he want's to ride.".

 

[jmkjr72]

if he is cleared by the dr leave it at that
but then again i see you say green bay aurua or bellin docs
i dont care for the er docs at bellin even my regular dr in kewaunee who is a bellin dr doesnt care for the er dr at bellin hospital
i have had sever concusions and you kow when you cant do things
granted i wast 17 at the time but it was in my hey im a dumb soldier i can do anything days

 

[LaurenT]

Being that an er dr, your regular dr and a neuro surgeon all said he was fine to do anything, I really think you should let him follow that advice. He will probably never remember the accident itself - I was hit by a car 15 yrs ago and to this day do not remember the impact - but that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with my brain function. He hit his head, he recovered, he's fine.
I understand wanting to protect him, but its unnecessary in this situation and you'll probably just create resentment and possibly some embarrassment if he has to tell his friends at 17 yrs old "my mommy won't let me because I hit my head last month...."

 

[nytimez]

If the doc says he's fine, then let him run wild.

 

[DaisyMaisie]

I understand where you are coming from. I had a concussion years ago and it does affect you for a while. That said unless a ride is going to cause him to risk another head bump or cause major disorientation I cannot imagine any reason to skip them.

If it were me, I would skip Mission Space because it is disorienting. Also Rock n roll coaster. The reason I would skip Rock N roll is because I actually kept bumping my head during the ride.

Michelle

 

[marciemi]

Thanks everyone - yes, it was the Bellin doctors/ER, but I did feel that they at least seemed competent. Keep in mind he was in the pediatric ER due to his age (yes, with cute little chairs and cartoons playing and coloring books and he's 6'3! ) so it might have been different doctors than you're thinking of. He is 17 but some of the issue is that he is planning to be in the military (service academy) and I'm already not sure how this will affect his medical (which is a whole different issue) but would prefer not to make things worse if possible!

I do realize that I can't control what he does but was primarily just trying to give him some guidelines on what I thought he should skip. I did set up just now another appointment with his regular doctor for late next week and will see what he says then and how my son is between now and then. The ER doctor had told him that "if he had no symptoms for 2 weeks he'd be fine to ride", the specialist was completely like "oh, he can do anything. Nothing indicates otherwise to me" even when I pointed out things like coasters, etc. We talked to the regular doctor but haven't seen him in person yet so that will be the final decision I guess next week.

Keisha - on the plus (??) side, he's taking the bus down (25 hours!) with the band. Not actually sure that will be better than flying, but I guess it could be! He and his brother are staying an extra day and flying back with us (have to love the $69 SW fares) so we'll watch for any issues then. It's actually a very short trip (3.5 days at the parks, including band activities) so I just don't want him making things bad or ending up miserable the first day and missing out on the rest of the trip. They do march in the 3 o'clock parade at MK the first day and he's the drum major, so I may at least suggest that if he HAS to do Space Mountain (that's their only day at MK), that he get a FP and ride it after the parade some time so he's at least fine for that!

Thanks for all the help - with 3 teen boys this is our first concussion and I guess after spending an evening seeing him totally confused and with no recollection of the previous few months, it kind of freaked me out some! Assuming the doctor (again) clears him late next week, all I can really do is give him some suggestions on what I'd think he should avoid and leave it up to him!

 

[HMGar]

Rocking Roller Coaster and Dinasour for sure. I know there are others, but those two popped into my head when I read this question.

 

[keishashadow]

sounds like u have it under controli understand how you feel, they may look grown up but they're still our kids. how ur boys managed to avoid a concussion thus far playing sports is a miracle, so common with contact sports!

who would ever think a long bus ride could turn out to be an asset? enjoy ur trip, it'll be swell.

 

[Agri]

If it helps, my mom had major brain surgery last December and went on Splash in March, MS: Orange in August, and in October went on Rockin' Rollercoaster and Dinosaur. She did Test Track all 3 of those visits. The only reason she didn't do Space Mountain is because its very jerky and she had a neck injury from a car accident years ago that still gives her problems. And she has a fear of heights, so actually seeing out over the park during ToT is a no-go for her.

All of our decisions were made with the clearance of her neurosurgeon. The first trip we had to be careful because she was still healing, but after that she was pretty much cleared for everything.

So I say, let him ride whatever he wants to if the doctors give him clearance.