Assembling a First Aid Kit for Your Childs Sports Injuries

A first aid kit is a must-have in every family’s medicine cabinet. Children often tend to get hurt while playing sports and providing first aid is essential to ensure that the injury doesn’t deteriorate any further. Keeping a first aid kit in ready preparedness, both in the car and at home, will help you to treat sport-related minor injuries right away and also, reduce infection and pain in the case of any major injuries. Here is how to assemble a first-aid kit to deal with your child’s sports injuries.

Medical Instruments for a First Aid Kit

Your first aid kit for sports injuries must have the following instruments

• Tweezers
• Scissors
• Tongue Depressors (Can be used to support a broken finger)

Do ensure that the instruments are clean, rust-free and in good, working condition. Sterilize them with rubbing alcohol or alcohol wipes before using them on the wound.

Medicines for a Sports-Injury First Aid Kit

Injuries can often cause a lot of pain and may lead to infections. Stock a first-aid kit with medications that will help relieve pain and combat infection. Some must-haves include:

• Acetaminophen or Ibuprofen to relieve pain
• Skin creams and ointments, including calamine lotion, antiseptic solution such as hydrogen peroxide, antibiotic creams and hydrocortisone cream
• Glucose solution for rehydrating an injured child

Types of Bandages and Dressings

Dressing the injury or wound is essential since it’ll help stop bleeding, prevent infection and keep the wound covered till you reach a doctor. Here are some of the different types of bandages and dressings for your sports first aid kit.

• Adhesive tape
• Cotton swabs
• Elastic bandages
• Butterfly bandages
• A triangular shaped cloth or arm sling
• Sterile cotton balls
• Sterile eye patch
• 3-inch wide gauze roll, preferably stretchable
• 1-inch wide bandage tape
• Sterile gauze pads, packed individually 
• Waterproof tape 

Other Essential Items to Help Treat a Child’s Sports Injuries

• Blanket to cover an injured child
• Ice packs or ice bags to reduce swelling and pain
• Hot packs or hot water bottle
• Rubbing alcohol, alcohol wipes or antiseptic wipes
• Disposable non-latex gloves
• Safety pins
• Torch or flashlight with extra batteries
• Measuring spoons for medications
• Soap
• Plastic baggies
• First aid book
• List of emergency phone numbers

Keeping a first-aid kit stocked and ready is something that every parent must have at all times. Keep a kit at home and one in the car as well, since most sports-related injuries occur in playgrounds, away from home. However, do keep it away from a child’s reach. Use a plastic box with adequate storage and handles or a large, zippered plastic bag to hold the supplies. Go through the kit regularly and discard medications that are out of date and restock items that have been used.

Paste a list of the contents of the first-aid kit on the inside of the box so that everyone in the family will know what to find in it and you’ll know what needs to be replaced. Also, do read the first-aid instructions for injuries and commit it to memory so you’ll know what to do when a child gets hit by a baseball or falls while playing soccer. These simple tips will help you to have your first-aid kit ready in next to no time.