Flyers' Laperriere Sees Improvements in Recovery
(from CSNPhilly.com)
By Tim Panaccio
CSNPhilly.com
October 28, 2010 - When Ian Laperriere announced a day before the Flyers opened their season in Pittsburgh that he might be forced into retirement because of post-concussion syndrome, you knew he'd fight it.
The Flyers scrappy forward is not giving up hope to play again and it now appears he may have reason to be optimistic.
Laperriere said on Thursday that he is encouraged by the fact he has gone two-and-a-half weeks without a single headache. He still has some vision problems, however, caused by artificial light.
"It's been good and I feel a lot of my headaches might have had to do with the stress of telling the club what was happening," Laperriere told CSNPhilly.com. "I'm still not 100 percent, but at least I no longer have headaches."
Laperriere continues to work out daily at Skate Zone in Voorhees, N.J., lifting weights and various cardio routines.
"I sweat a little bit and try to stay in some kind of shape," he said. "I do cardio, but nothing crazy. A little weights. That's pretty much it.
"I really feel it might have had to do with just telling my teammates about what was going on, the stress involved with that. Headaches were part of it. Now that I have done it and I'm not around the lights with everything moving quick, I think that was causing my headaches."
Laperriere said his eyes don't bother him in natural light, but he is still experiencing some vision problems with indoor lighting, such as light over the rink.
"I'm not there yet, I'd like to say I am, but I'm not," he said. "But at least I don't have the headaches, which is a major difference for me."
He is uncertain when his next evaluation will be. Laperriere is being seen by doctors in Pittsburgh.
"Right now, my hope is to get back to 100 percent and I'm not even close," he said. "The big thing is to wake up every morning and not feel a headache. You can't imagine what that means."
His teammates flew to Pittsburgh Thursday afternoon to meet the Penguins on Friday night for the third time this month.
E-mail Tim Panaccio at tpanotch@comcast.net