Specialist says Sidney Crosby has treatable soft-tissue injury to his neck
Posted January 31, 2012 10:46 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
PITTSBURGH – The Pittsburgh Penguins say Sidney Crosby is suffering from a soft-tissue injury of the neck _ and not a past or present neck fracture.
They cite an independent specialist contacted to review recent medical tests.
A spinal trauma expert at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia says the soft-tissue injury could be causing neurological symptoms.
Dr. Alexander Vaccaro is past president of the American Spinal Injury Association.
On the weekend, the Penguins confirmed that a visit to neurological spine specialist Dr. Robert S. Bray in Los Angeles had turned up evidence of a neck injury.
While some reports pegged it as a fracture to Crosby’s C1 and C2 vertebrae, Crosby’s agent Pat Brisson cautioned it was too soon to draw that conclusion.
Still news of a neck injury led to some speculation that the Crosby camp was unhappy with the star’s medical care in his return from concussion-related problems, something the Penguins sought to dispel Monday.
The Pens says Brisson, along with Penguins owner Mario Lemieux and CEO David Morehouse went Monday morning to Philadelphia to have Vaccaro review the CT Scan and MRI taken by week Bray last week in Los Angeles. Bray diagnosed a neck injury, the club said.
“Bray has treated Crosby with an injection to alleviate swelling in the C1-2 joint of the neck and will be overseeing his progression with therapists,” the NHL team said in a statement. “Doctors say the symptoms of a soft-tissue neck injury are similar to concussion symptoms.
“Vaccaro, Bray and UPMC doctors all agree that Crosby is safe, the injury is treatable, and he will return to action when he is symptom-free.”
