Crosby has soft-tissue neck injury

Sidney Crosby

Sidney Crosby's injury troubles may not be down to a concussion after a new scan revealed he is suffering from a soft-tissue injury in his neck.

The Pittsburgh Penguins centre has been struggling with what had been thought to be concussion-like symptoms but after seeing no significant improvement in his condition, Crosby decided to meet with spinal trauma expert Dr. Alexander Vaccaro in Philadelphia.

After examination of his recent tests the injury was diagnosed as a soft-tissue injury in the next – a far more treatable injury than a concussion.

"There's a pretty big possibility that it could be causing some of the issues and I hope that's the case. I hope that it'll improve and that's hopefully the end of it,” Crosby said.

"There's not a lot of answers with this stuff. They've been more than encouraging when going out and seeking other opinions."

According to Vaccaro there’s no evidence of a fracture in Crosby’s neck but there was no exact diagnosis other than tissue damage.

"It's hard to pinpoint when this could have happened, whether this was an existing injury or it happened in one of the games in which he came back," general manager Ray Shero said.

The news will be comforting to Penguins fans who were beginning to fear the worst after Crosby missed nearly a year with concussion-like symptoms before coming back this season only to re-injure himself.

"There has never been any indication from any doctor over the last year that he'd have to shut it down for the season, that he'd have to retire. We're going to find a way to get a handle on this and get him back on the ice as safely and quickly as possible,” Shero added.

Philip Wicinski