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Until a month ago, there was nothing typical about Sidney Crosby. At 23, the Pittsburgh Penguins captain had already won the Stanley Cup, an Olympic gold medal, and the praise of Wayne Gretzky, who raved in December: “He’s the real deal. He’s the best player in the game.” Crosby had been on a 25-game scoring streak, amassing goals at a faster rate than ever before in his career—and the longest run since Mats Sundin’s 30-game tear almost 20 years ago.
Crosby’s streak came to a crashing end, however, when he was diagnosed with a concussion in early January—having endured two massive blows only a few days apart. The first time, Crosby took the cold, hard shoulder of Washington Capitals winger David Steckel to the side of his head. The velocity of the hit snapped his neck back, and spun him in the air for a full rotation. His 200-lb. body thudded onto the ice, and as Crosby hunched over, his mouthguard slipped out. Eventually, he skated to the bench, bent over. Despite a sore neck, Crosby shrugged off the pain, and played in the next game.
That’s when a crushing check by Victor Hedman of the Tampa Bay Lightning slammed Crosby’s head against the boards. The collision happened so fast that startled fans on the other side of the Plexiglas jerked back in their seats as if Crosby might come hurtling right into their laps. Instead, he melted onto the ice and doubled over. When his face was finally visible, the grimace said it all. ‘Sid the Kid’ was done. Suddenly and spectacularly, Sidney Crosby went from being the golden boy of hockey to just one more pro athlete incapacitated with a concussion.
If they weren’t so serious, concussions could be ridiculed as a sports cliché, like missing front teeth. Nearly 50 NHL players have been out of commission because of the injury, including a few who haven’t healed from last season. Concussions aren’t limited to hockey. Canadian Justin Morneau, a prized first baseman with the Minnesota Twins, missed the second half of last season because of a concussion he got in July. Canadian speed skater Kristina Groves, a four-time Olympic medallist, just announced she won’t return to the rink this season because of a concussion she received in November. Meanwhile, the NFL is perpetually embroiled in controversy over mounting evidence that repeated hits to (and with) the head are tied to brain damage seen in its former players that resembles Alzheimer’s disease. Even The New Yorker, known more for intellectual commentary than athletic analysis, has tackled the issue with a story asking: “Does football have a future?”
But it’s taken a player of the calibre and promise of Crosby to convey the gravity of the injury to many Canadians. (His influence can’t be overstated: a recent national poll revealed he is the second most popular Canuck, after Gretzky.) Crosby is a case study in what we know, and more importantly, what we don’t know, about concussions, why they vary from person to person, the best ways to prevent and treat them, and whether anyone really can escape their long-term effects.
The current consensus among experts is that 80 per cent of individuals appear symptom-free within 10 days of getting a concussion. But there is no certainty about whether subtle changes persist in the brain. Or about what’s happening in that 20 per cent who don’t recover quickly. A 2006 study by neurologist Dr. Kevin Gordon at Dalhousie University in Halifax estimated that there are 110 concussions per 100,000 Canadians annually—a lowball figure, since many go unreported or undiagnosed. That means there are roughly 37,600 concussions in Canada today, and 7,500 won’t disappear within two weeks. Put another way, this would be like all of the players in the NHL, NFL, CFL and MLB having a persistent concussion—times two.
The incidence of concussion is even higher among children and adolescents (up to 200 per 100,000). In youth, the injury is harder to detect, and the symptoms tend to be more severe and take longer to subside. The impact on development could be more serious too, says Dr. Jeffrey Kutcher, a neurologist and professor at the University of Michigan. “Until about 19 or 20 you’re still gaining neural connections, so any effect before that has the potential for changing the final course of that person’s cognitive ability.”
But many parents don’t know their children have been brain injured, suspects Philip Schatz, a neuropsychologist at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia who studies concussion in youth: “Kids have sustained concussions and either they’re not aware of it or they haven’t told anybody about it.” Children can’t articulate their symptoms, or they are confused with other conditions that cause vomiting, fatigue, and irritability, while teens and their parents might attribute them to adolescent drama.
