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English: Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews during warm up prior to a National Hockey League playoff game against the Calgary Flames, in Calgary. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Here is one person the lockout probably helped. Former
Fighting Sioux forward
Jonathan Toews suffered a
concussion during the 2011-12 season and is now just finally getting back to normal.
Chris Kuc, Chicago Tribune --- The Blackhawks captain wasn't 100 percent healed in July. Or October. In fact, it wasn't until late last week that Toews was convinced he's completely over the concussion that caused him to miss the final two months of the 2011-12 regular season before he returned in the postseason against the Coyotes.
While Toews was symptom-free and had cleared all the NHL-imposed concussion protocols before returning to the Hawks' lineup, there were lingering effects from the injury that even the 24-year-old center didn't realize were affecting him. They included balance and eyesight issues that were discovered and solved during a five-day stint at an Atlanta-area chiropractic neurology facility last week.
"Even if you don't feel something and you think you're symptom-free, there's probably still something there that's kind of hindering you and affecting the way your brain works," Toews told the Tribune on Wednesday. "It was just a lot of eye-movement things. My eyes didn't track very well. They didn't look from one target to the next very well. My balance with my eyes closed and my head turned a certain way was terrible. (There were) little things that I would think were normal because I didn't feel something in my head.