Four Games, Seven Flights: how could that affect the brain after concussion?

Carey Price is a professional Ice Hockey Goalkeeper.
He spent part of last month experiencing headaches. 

They didn't go away.


His Montreal Canadiens Team Doctor then announced he would be unavailable for the last three remaining matches of the season since he had been diagnosed with mild concussion.


The Club Press Release of April 4th then suggested that Price had been injured in a collision with David Desharnais during a drill on March 20th.

It is since this date that the headaches started, and since that date that Price has played four professional games. He has also flown seven times. How do those match up with a concussive event with ongoing symptoms? What effect can they have on the brain & the player's health?

The local newspaper, the Montreal Gazette filed a story about how it was up to players to be honest about concussive events.


http://www.faceoff.com/hockey/teams/montreal-canadiens/players+honest+about+concussions/6412404/story.html

The paper's assertion is that there was a delay between the initial contact and Price’s decision to tell the team’s medical staff that he was still having headaches. 


These were not reducing in intensity or duration or frequency indicates the National Hockey League’s program to identify and treat concussions simply will not work if the players don’t recognize the fact they are injured. Or if they don't actually inform the staff whom may be able to assist in the decision making process for the good of the player and the team. Oh, and the sport?

For certain in professional sport, there is the reality that players hate being injured, hate being out of the team lineups and hate missing matches. The result is a macho culture that sees players attempting to hide injuries.

Mathieu Darche

The Gazette also raises the issue of Mathieu Darche, whom they suggest is as bright a player as you’ll find in pro hockey. He experienced headaches for a week before he sought medical attention, then was diagnosed with inner-ear infection,yet he still had symptoms after the infection cleared up, and he acknowledged he had concussion-like symptoms.

Head coach Randy Cunneyworth noted that it was difficult to differentiate between concussion symptoms and flu symptoms, which is why Darche, Tomas Kaberle and Scott Gomez are all listed as suffering from upper-body injuries and Ryan White is listed as a flu victim.

The Gazette has written something in conclusion that all of us working in sports' medicine with professional sports' teams would acknowledge:


Perhaps it is better to err on the side of caution when dealing with head injuries. Good for the players & management to understand that too.