I do FA in a secondary school. We treat head bumps with ice packs and monitor them for 10 mins. If any vomitting / blurred vision / unconciouness / increased swelling / bleeds / skin colour changes / incoherent  then of to A&E they go - usually by ambo. Young children can rapidly deterioate. 



Get yourself a supply of instant ice packs for "field use" and the reusable types kept in freezer near FA facilities.

Applying a "cold compress" will ease any minor swelling / bruising. Tissues soaked with cold water will suffice - if readily available. We use instant ice packs for sports field use and have reusable ice packs in the FA room freezer. These can be applied direct to the skin but we wrap them in a clean piece of tissue.



We have not been told by the LA, H&S Officer etc. NOT to apply cold compress for bumps. I do not see any benefit in putiing a dry paper towel (or similar) on a bump.



Of course, if the child shows symptons mentioned in my previous post then you must take further action. 

good idea to call parents to ensure the bump note dosn't remain in bag/pocket etc

We specifically teach NOT to use ice packs for bumps on the head as even if wrapped in a tisue they are far too cold. We teach simply to use a cold water compress.

I am a bit concerned that the obvious has not been flagged up. The issue of predictable vomitting and reduced level of conciousness up to several hours after the incident -aka- delayed concussion. Kids who have had a knock on the head have a tendancy to vomit and delayed concussion is also far more common than with adults. Instead people are genuinely arguing about a paper towel soaking in cold water that will get warm in a minute or so, balanced against the use of a cold pack - where some LA H & S half edumucated muppet has declared them "too cold". Probably the same LA H & S muppet who bans games of tag and had all the conker trees within a 5 mile radius uprooted. Unless someone somewhere can come up with any definitive evidence that using an ice pack will have delitarious effects upon a child by freezing them to the spot or inducing almost immediate hypothermia, then common sense ought to be employed. How many times have we heard that things are banned because of "elf 'n' safety" but nobody can tell us why when asked. It is also usually the case that when you ask where exactly in the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and its consequential 6 pack ammendments from 1992 such a ban exists, you are even less likely to get an answer. These half @r$ed H &S muppets are also the same sort of idiots who prevent school teachers from giving children their own medicine and are devoid of reality. In fact they only work for the LA because they would not be capable of a similar job in industry or commerce. I would ask the H&S muppet what temperature range of cold compress he/she has the scientific evidence for to demonstrate a safe range, and raise your concerns that eating an icecream could be dangerous, snowballing could be fatal (so snow should be banned from the UK with immediate effect) and perhaps a ban on school children attending school during the winter as the cold might induce mass playground deaths or indeed they could die on the way too or from school. PE could therefore be banned in the winter allowing kids to get fat and unfit and die before they are 40. These people are the nanny state we need to rid ourselves from, and one of the best ways we can do this is simply ignore them, and certainly never, ever consult them!

Well said PrivAmb. I'm still looking for the cold water tap in the middle of our sports fields with a H&S warning saying "do not use if the water is too cold".



We've been using instant ice packs for many many years - had no complaints, do not use directives at all.