Crosby making progress; return unknown

2012-03-30 04:34:56
  • Sidney Crosby, left, talks to reporters accompanied by Penguins General Manager Ray Shero, center, and Director of the UPMC Sports Medicine Concussion Program Dr. Michael Collins.
    Peter Diana/Post-Gazette
    Sidney Crosby, left, talks to reporters accompanied by Penguins General Manager Ray Shero, center, and Director of the UPMC Sports Medicine Concussion Program Dr. Michael Collins.

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By Shelly Anderson / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

It was February, the doldrums of the National Hockey League season, when one team meeting tends to bleed into the next video session, and things don't change much from day to day.

Sidney Crosby had been dealing with the effects of a concussion for about a month, but, as the Penguins captain, wanted to participate as much as possible.

"I tried to go to a meeting with our team ... and just watching video was something that felt like it was really stressing my system," Mr. Crosby recalled Wednesday. "I had to work so hard just to concentrate on that."

Body checks in successive games had led to a Jan. 6 diagnosis of a vestibular concussion -- one that affects balance and spatial orientation.

The injury reduced Mr. Crosby from perhaps the world's best hockey player and the face of the NHL to another name on what seems to be an ever-expanding list of concussion victims of all ages and walks of life whose prime objective becomes having the patience to get through recovery.

PG VIDEO: SIDNEY CROSBY ON HIS RECOVERY

Although there is great optimism that Mr. Crosby, 24, will play again -- probably in the 2011-12 season and at his stratospheric level -- there is no way of knowing how long it will take for him to achieve the final steps in his recovery. He still needs to become symptom-free, be cleared for contact, then be cleared to suit up.

At a 42-minute news conference along with concussion experts Micky Collins and Ted Carrick and Penguins general manager Ray Shero at Consol Energy Center, Mr. Crosby offered the most detailed look yet at what his symptoms felt like.

"The worst part was probably right away," Mr. Crosby said in his first public appearance since late April. "I didn't really like driving or watching TV. I didn't want to listen to the radio in the car.

For more on the Penguins, read the Pens Plus blog with Dave Molinari and Shelly Anderson at www.post-gazette.com/plus . Shelly Anderson: shanderson@post-gazette.com , 412-263-1721 and Twitter @pgshelly.
First Published September 8, 2011 12:00 am
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