Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog
On January 1, 2011, arguably the BEST hockey player on the planet, Sidney Crosby caught an elbow from Washington Capitals Forward David Steckel. Days later, on January 5th, Sidney Crosby was checked against the boards by Tampa Bay Lightning forward, Victor Hedman. Crosby bumped his head in both collisions. He felt “woozy”, had headaches, and simply wasn’t himself following these impacts.
Scans and MRIs returned negative, BUT doctors diagnosed that Crosby sustained a concussion (or a head injury). He was not medically cleared to return to action. Doctors and team management wanted to take every precaution necessary to ensure that Crosby’s brain injury would not put him at further risk. Former NHLers such as Eric Lindros, Brett Lindros and Nick Kypreos all had to cut their careers short on account of brain injury. Penguins team officials didn’t want Crosby to suffer the same fate as the aforementioned players.
While there is a distinction between a major traumatic brain injury and a concussion, it should be clear that no brain injury is minor. They will always have an impact on your life; as it did on Sidney Crosby. Crosby missed the remainder of the 2010/11 season, and did not make his return to professional hockey until November 21st against the New York Islanders. In the period of time he was away from the game, Crosby reported memory problems, balance problems, and co-ordination problems. Other symptoms synonymous with brain injury include but aren’t limited to fatigue, blurred vision, headaches, ringing in the ears, short and long term memory loss, moodiness, irritability, rage, loss of appetite, loss of concentration and depression.
