Concussion nearly derailed her career. Now Amanda Kessel is starring again for US women's hockey team.
BEIJING — Out of the darkness.
That's a fair, and literal, way to describe Amanda Kessel's hockey career.
The U.S. women's hockey forward had established herself as one of the best in the sport by her young 20s. At the University of Minnesota, she won the 2013 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, given to the top women's college hockey player in the nation, and scored the game-winning goal at the world championships that year. The Wisconsin native had her first taste of the Olympics the next year during the 2014 Sochi Games.
She suffered a concussion during a scrimmage before those Olympics. Kessel still helped Team USA take silver that winter, but concussion-like symptoms lingered and caused her to take a year off from school – and the sport she loved – as she battled debilitating headaches, light sensitivity and a litany of other ailments.
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"There were some really dark times," she told USA TODAY Sports. "I really thought my career might be over."
Then she found Dr. Micky Collins and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Collins had treated Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby during his concussions.
Kessel's referral to Collins gave her hockey career a second life.
Advancements in concussion treatments help Kessel
Concussions are like snowflakes. No two are alike, Collins told USA TODAY Sports in an interview. A one-size-fits-all recovery plan is not realistic.
There are six types of concussions, Collins said, each identified by their own specific set of symptoms that alter people's daily lives. For Kessel, that meant staying away from hockey for nearly 18 months.
"Once you can identify what type of concussion, we've now identified treatments that can treat that type of concussion in an active and targeted way," Collins said in an interview.
Kessel had been treating her concussion in a more traditional manner with dark rooms, no activity and limited human interaction.
It took a toll on her. Not only as an athlete, but as a human being.
"When I saw her for the first time ... she was very sick," Collins said.
The symptoms: Severe headaches that turned into migraines. Dizziness. Problems sleeping. Vestibular issues. Mood concerns, even.
"We were able to identify what was happening and we gave her a very active and targeted plan," said Collins, who has been with the renowned UPMC program for more than two decades and directing it for the last 14 years.
A long time ago, Collins said, the clinic asserted that rest is not the way to treat concussions in athletes. On the first day they met, Collins had Kessel sweat through a workout. It was certainly a change-up from her previous treatment attempts.
She "worked her (butt) off," Collins said. And most important, Kessel's condition rapidly improved, but not right away.
"She attacked it. She did extremely well," Collins said.
The most severe symptoms Kessel faced were the vestibular system (sensory integration, movement and motion interpretation, etc.) problems, which could manifest themselves in vertigo. A hockey player needs that system working properly – think about all that goes into tracking a puck and the need to keep the head "on a swivel" – and it became the primary hurdle for Collins and his team.
"The way we treat that problem is by retraining it," Collins said. "It's not rest. It's not dark rooms. She had been told to do a lot of that before I saw her."
That wasn't going to work for Kessel. Medical advances made at UPMC include devising workouts for those afflicted with this issue. But that was just one problem. Before she saw Collins, Kessel had been told not to exercise – an outlet taken away by her previous medical advisors. Her passion, hockey, was a non-starter.
"Think about the confluence of all those factors," Collins said.
In Kessel, Collins found a like-minded patient. Once he explained his research, the biological factors at hand and other patients' previous success, she was on board.
"Any athlete, especially an elite athlete like that, they need a plan. They need a rehab plan," Collins said.
Kessel's workouts included toe-touch drills, ball-catching, head movements. Vertical and lateral exercises rebuilt the vestibular and ocular systems. The key is finding a humane way to do it.
"Because it's going to make you feel crappy when you're doing it," he said.
Collins said there is a lot of misinformation about concussions. He firmly believes it is treatable with activity, especially for elite athletes like Kessel.
"What you read in the media is not what we're seeing a lot of times in our clinic," he said. "The fact is, I really do feel that this is a treatable injury. A lot of people aren't getting the right information, the right treatments, for the problems that they're having."
Kessel shines in Beijing for Team USA
Kessel is now playing in her third Olympics. She entered the quarterfinals against the Czech Republic leading the team in points with six (four assists, two goals) and is now tied for second as the Americans advanced to the semifinals.
During the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, she was part of the gold-medal squad. For Collins, there's nothing more rewarding than seeing someone who was "super sick," like Kessel, hoist a gold medal.
"To see her get back to that level," Collins said, "that's what it's all about."
The winning actually started for Kessel not long after her rehab with Collins and his clinic started. By December 2015, she was skating on her own. She rejoined the team the next month and was in the starting lineup that February. A month later, she helped the Gophers win a national championship.
"I've said many times," Brad Frost, Kessel's college coach at Minnesota, told USA TODAY Sports, "you could write a movie about it."
Follow Chris Bumbaca on Twitter @BOOMbaca
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Amanda Kessel, US women's hockey star, overcame concussion
