Immediate steps after nose injury on sports field – Dr. Satish Babu K

A nose injury in the sports filed is quite a common thing especially in contact sports like basketball, volley ball, football and obviously in sports like boxing. So if we see a person with a nasal injury, you have to immediately give a first aid, that means you can make the person lie down flat on the floor and try to pinch the nostrils if the bleeding is happening from inside the nostrils and you can look for any injuries or any deformities happening, that is the dorsum or the outside part of the nose being bent or depressed and if you see any external injuries, this also has to be addressed immediately and if by pinching the nose, the bleeding stops within a few minutes, then it is fine, you can slowly take to the doctor and get medication and further treatment can be started. But if the bleeding doesn’t stop immediately, then it becomes an emergency because the nose is the place where the bleeding can be torrential and can bleed from the nostrils as well as bleeding from the back side throughout and without knowing the person is swallowing it, he might end up with more trouble because blood is a very bad irritant of the stomach and it will induce a lot of vomiting. So if you see a person with lot of blood from the nose and vomiting also, it is a panicky situation and if the injury is critical, in the sense, the persons consciousness is a slightly altered because of the hit to the head, then the bleeding may not be in control, so it is more of a subconscious function, he might even aspirate blood into his lungs, which will compromise his viability. So in such situations, rapid transportation to the hospital, immediate treatment in securing the airway, all the measures are done to arrest the bleed and maintain his vital signs like BP and oxygen content of the blood and pulse rate and everything is maintained, then you can save the person.