Crosby diagnosed with tissue injury to upper neck
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Sidney Crosby talks about his injury Tuesday, with Penguins' general manager Ray Shero behind him at Consol Energy Center.
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Sidney Crosby was reluctant to share stories with his teammates about his weekend. While they had several days off or played in the NHL All-Star Game in Ottawa, the Penguins captain was again addressing the health issues that have troubled him the past 13 months.
"Basically, my break was spent in doctors' offices and MRI machines, stuff like that," Mr. Crosby said Tuesday. "I didn't have an exciting break, but some of the guys did, so it was more talking about that."
Mr. Crosby had news to share, though, potentially important news. After consulting with spinal trauma expert Alexander Vaccaro and others in his growing medical team, he learned that he has a soft-tissue injury in his upper neck.
Not a broken neck, past or present.
PG VIDEOMaybe not even a concussion anymore.
It's possible his latest symptoms -- trouble with motion and balance -- are caused by the neck injury and not a lingering or new brain injury.
"I hope so," Mr. Crosby said. "I think the biggest thing to take from it is that [the neck injury] is something I can work on. There's a pretty big possibility that it could be causing some of the issues.
"I really hope that's the case and hope that with some treatment it will improve and that's, hopefully, the end of it."
Mr. Crosby continues to skate separately from team practice and won't be cleared to play until his symptoms subside, which is the same course of action regardless of whether those symptoms stem from the neck injury or a concussion.
He spent last week in Los Angeles being treated and tested by Robert S. Bray, a neurosurgeon who specializes in the spine. Dr. Bray gave Mr. Crosby an injection in his neck near the C1 and C2 vertebrae to help reduce swelling, something Mr. Crosby said he hopes to replace with other treatments going forward.
Dr. Bray recommended that an independent expert read Mr. Crosby's MRI and CAT scan, and the Penguins turned the past few days to Dr. Vaccaro, who is co-director of the Spinal Cord Center at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia.
First Published February 1, 2012 12:00 am
