Veteran volleyball player survives mid-air collision
Olympic hopeful suffers concussion, paralysis in left side for several hours

BEVERLEY SMITH
Sports Reporter
The Globe and Mail

Toronto -- Kristine Drakich is one of the lucky ones.

One of Canada's top beach volleyball players, Drakich walked out of Toronto Western Hospital on her own steam just past midnight yesterday after suffering brain and spinal concussions in the $500,000 Nokia Open tournament.

Drakich suffered temporary paralysis on Thursday after a mid-air collision with her partner, Erminia Russo, in a game against a Chinese team. The veteran athlete was unconscious momentarily, but then found she had no feeling or movement on her left side.

Feeling in her arm returned within a couple of hours, and the paralysis lasted about six, said Doug Richards, chief medical officer for the tournament. By 8:30 p.m. Thursday, she had full power back in her left leg.

Drakich was initially sent to East General Hospital, which is closest to the game site, but after X-rays showed no neck fractures, she was transferred to Toronto Western Hospital, which has neurosurgical service. There, she had a scan to check for damage to the spinal cord.

Drakich had taken a leave of absence from the University of Toronto to try to make the Olympic team, but the accident will make her job much more difficult. Richards said he would advise she take at least three weeks off.

She and Russo were on the verge of qualifying, with eight tournaments left on the Olympic tour. They are currently ranked 29th in the world, but only the top 24 will make it to Sydney. Each country is allowed only two entries.

Russo and Drakich were behind 8-2 in the game against the Chinese, and the accident meant the game was awarded to the Chinese by default. The Canadians had suffered an earlier loss in the day, so were eliminated from the tournament.

Determining recovery time from a cerebral or spinal concussion is "an inexact art, more than a science," Richards said.

"With brain concussion, there is increasing conservatism [about recovery time]," he said. "I don't think they're conservative enough yet, when you see people going back and getting hurt right away."

He said doctors have even less experience dealing with spinal concussions and don't know the risks that come with returning to play.

"[Drakich] feels fine, now," Richards said. "But this is the issue with brain concussions -- they feel fine, and they want to go play, and we know they have an increased risk of having another concussion."

Drakich suffered two concussions, one to the brain, which left her groggy for a few minutes after impact, and one to the spinal cord, which is a piece of nervous tissue, just like the brain. "Either of them can be scrambled when shaken up inappropriately," Richards said.

He said the tissue in either case may stop working even when there is no evidence of bleeding or swelling or structural damage. Tests showed no bleeding or structural damage to Drakich's spinal cord.

Because Drakich was unconscious only briefly, cerebral concussion guidelines suggest she should not play for several weeks. Someone with symptoms for three or four weeks should be out of action for months, Richards said. The spinal cord is the same.

Richards is also team doctor for the Toronto Raptors, the women's national basketball team and both the men's and women's beach volleyball teams.

Reprinted with permission

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