Video of Pettersson hit disturbs doctor
Sports injury specialist fears rookie may have suffered extensive damage
When Dr. Stefan Sigalet viewed the replay of a hit that left Elias Pettersson with a concussion last Saturday in Sunrise, Fla., he saw more than the head of the Vancouver Canucks’ prized rookie striking the ice.
He saw reason for additional concern.
“He definitely has a concussion and probably has whiplash and has probably injured his left shoulder,” said Sigalet, a founding practitioner of the Burnaby-based Catalyst Kinetics Group and consulting chiropractor for players in the NHL, CFL, Rugby Canada, MLS and Canadian Olympians.
“I can guarantee you that the left side of his neck — the way it got ripped back — the left anterior part can be completely inhibited.
“If somebody isn’t working on that to make it react again properly, it just leaves you susceptible for being injured again. He needs to have good manual therapy and get started on an anti-inflammatory specific protocol for brain inflammation.”
Pettersson was injured when drilled into the end boards from behind by Mike Matheson. The Florida Panthers’ defenceman brought up his left arm upon impact, raked it across the centre’s face and threw him to the ice. His head bounced off the surface and he struggled to get up before leaving the game.
Matheson wasn’t penalized on the play but received a two-game suspension on Monday. Pettersson remains on injured reserve and the hurdles he faces include sport-specific exercise, non-contact training and then a full practice.
Those in recovery spend at least a day in each step, and if any symptoms surface, it’s back to the previous step.
“The thing is, he (Pettersson) could go and ride a bike at a high heart rate and then go and skate and feel like garbage,” said Sigalet. “And it’s not always heart rate. It can be neck position. When I get guys (biking), I keep their heads neutral and not bouncing around.
“You can have a sprained joint in your neck, and if you’re bouncing around, it will flare up into a headache in no time.”
Sigalet did say the fact that Pettersson slept through the first night of the trauma, flew with the Canucks to Pittsburgh and did light workouts on Monday through Thursday, is encouraging.
It’s a starting point in postconcussion recovery that’s widely varied, and it attracted Sigalet because of the connection between soft tissue and muscle function, the vestibular systems of eyes and balance and the physiological side.
“The fact he’s sleeping is great,” Sigalet said of the 19-year-old Pettersson. “One of the first things with anybody is to sleep, because if you can’t, you can’t recover. That’s when your testosterone comes up and when your hormone level comes up.
“I try to get everybody doing something light right away and I’m a big proponent of doing something. I just saw a girl who’s a national cyclist. She crashed five months ago and her doctor said to just do nothing. It’s terrible advice and it’s very old advice.
“Exercising immediately after a concussion has a better outcome because you’re getting more blood flow to your brain. When you do nothing, people tend to get stuck in their head a bit. They end up with anxiety and depression and you start to over-think everything.
“It (exercise) makes people feel more at ease that they’re going to get better.”
As a renowned chiropractor, Sigalet understands the relationship between soft tissue and muscles and the manner in which they fire. He knows if there’s no proper treatment, different firing patterns create headaches and other aches and pains. You can have these issues and still pass a baseline test because a lot of that testing is for eyes and balance.
“I look at the (body) structure like the hardware,” said Sigalet. “The vestibular system is like a software program. If you’re not running very good hardware, it’s hard to run good software.”
Sigalet stressed the final piece of the puzzle is how hormone patterns can be disrupted with brain injuries. Some of the most complicated post-concussion cases involve a blow to the head being disruptive to the pituitary gland, and when it gets disturbed, it changes the manner in which the body produces or reacts to hormones.
Sigalet believes Pettersson has a better chance of recovery because of his young age and higher testosterone and hormone levels.
But pinpointing any athlete’s return is difficult. Canucks winger Antoine Roussel suffered a concussion on Aug. 30 during an informal off-season scrimmage collision in Montreal. He didn’t return until Oct. 13 in Carolina.
Thatcher Demko took a Brendan Leipsic shot off the mask on Sept. 23 and the Utica Comets’ starter is still sidelined.
“You see some people and it looks like an innocent thing — this won’t be hard to treat and you struggle with that person,” said Sigalet.
“You see a severe concussion with a loss of consciousness and they respond really well. So many factors are involved.
“There’s the health status at the time. Studies have shown those with poor diet don’t respond as well, and even neck girth is a factor.
“A tall soccer girl with a skinny neck, there’s a good chance the muscles won’t hold and withstand the force of the ball coming at her.”
Exercising immediately after a concussion has a better outcome because you’re getting more blood flow to your brain.