A head injury can be so much more complicated than a broken bone. If you break your ankle, for example, a doctor can take an X-ray, identify the problem and fix it.
But four and a half months after his concussion, Christopher Nowinski still doesn’t fully know why he’s suffering from headaches or what, exactly, is causing them. Therefore, the only remedy has been patience, and there’s no timetable on when he can return to WWE television.
“I’ve been cleared to work out and to do any non-head-impact type activities,” he told WWE.com in a phone interview this morning. “I’m working out twice a day to try to get back in shape because I got somewhat out of it. I got in the ring the other day and tried to do a little chain wrestling and ran the ropes and stuff. It was OK. I wouldn’t say I felt as good as I wanted to, but we’ll see as we go on.” He added, “Sometimes I feel pretty crappy after I work out.”
Nowinski has been frustrated for the past few days because the post-concussion-syndrome-type problems have returned. “Who knows what it means?” he said. “(Prior to the last few days) I was feeling amazing for a week and a half – totally fine, energetic and everything.”
One unusual side effect from the concussion is that, for the first time in his life, he’s taken to sleepwalking, apparently because his brain chemistry has been altered. There are two kinds of sleepwalking, Nowinski explained: one where you walk around in a hypnotic state, but your brain knows where you are, and you’re not really in any danger; and the other, much more dangerous, is akin to walking in a dark room. Nowinski is suffering from the latter.
Recently, he jumped off his bed and into a wall, and fell six feet. Several other times, he’s woken up in places with no idea how he got there. He’s been forced to take pills to help him sleep deeper, but even taking those, he still has the occasional bout of sleepwalking, which is not a good sign.
“Sometimes it’s kind of scary to go to sleep at night,” he said. “The whole thing is just a troubling ball of wax.”
On the plus side, headaches he gets these days are manageable; they’re no longer on the “knock-me-on-my-ass” variety, as he describes them. And his recent head pain may just be because he’s finally back in the gym, pushing himself.
The absolute best-case scenario for a WWE return would be December, Nowinski said.
Doctors have now come to think that, since the headaches have changed, that they may be due to whiplash he suffered during the same incident that led to his concussion. That was during a live event in Hartford, Conn., on June 21. He took a stiff kick to the head that he didn’t see coming, and because he didn’t get a chance to tighten his muscles in preparation, he may have torn ligaments that connect to his skull, which can take months to heal. “But there’s no surefire way to tell” if that’s what’s causing the headaches, Nowinski said.
“I’ve only been really working out for 10 days, so it could just be ... my neck getting back into high levels of stress,” he said. “In that case, in theory, in a week or two, once my neck gets stronger, the headaches could go away. Then I’ll know it’s just my neck.
“I wouldn’t say I’m incredibly enthusiastic about a quick comeback, but it could just be an adjustment period that I’m going through.” Nowinski returns to the doctors in two weeks.
“It’s a question of, have I taken enough time yet or not?” he said. “That’s up to them.”
Nowinski has been attending WWE events “left and right” – any within a three to four hour drive from his apartment in Boston -- trying to stay involved. He’s also been used periodically for other WWE functions; for instance, he flew to Canada on Monday for various appearances. This Monday, he’ll be at RAW in Boston, attending the show and taking part in a Smackdown Your Vote! rally at Boston University.
“I have a lot of time to keep up with politics now, so I’m motivated to care,” he said with a chuckle.
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