Peter Haring admits he can’t really remember suffering the “scary” concussion that’s kept him out of action for Hearts since mid-October.
The Austrian was thrown on as a second-half substitute by Robbie Neilson as the Jambos went down 2-0 to Aberdeen. A clash with Dons forward Marley Watkins, who appeared to catch Haring with an elbow, left the midfielder out cold on the Pittodrie turf. After lengthy treatment, he tried to walk off the pitch, but was clearly still disoriented and was eventually stretchered off.
He hasn’t played since, with Haring still feeling the effects of the injury several weeks later. Hearts were taking no risks and he was forced to watch the remainder of their Europa Conference League campaign from the sidelines. The lingering symptoms mean he has been unable to take to the pitch yet, but has returned to training and was with the Jambos o n their recent winter training camp in Spain.
Haring has watched footage of the incident back. But he’s unsure if the little he can recall is from that, or purely because he’s been shown it on screen as he opened up on his frustration at having to wait for the all clear, unable to really do anything himself to alleviate the effects,
"I've seen the footage loads of times now, so I'm not sure if I'm just remembering what I've seen or what happened, but there was definitely a time where I was passed out and I didn't remember that,” he explained. “I didn't expect to be out for that long but unfortunately that's just the way it is now.
"It's been better over the break. I would say I've recovered well. But then I go into training – running is always fine – but in training it's a bit different. I still have mild symptoms when I'm doing full-on training, so obviously that's not great. It's why I haven't played in any of the friendlies yet, which is obviously a bit disappointing, but hopefully it'll be better soon.
"It's obviously very frustrating. Over the break I've recovered. I got my head away from football for a bit, felt totally fine and ready to kick on again when we came back. I felt fine running but then going into the football stuff was a bit different and I had a reaction.
"The most frustrating thing is that there's not really any exercises or gym work or anything you can do to make it better, you just have to sit back and wait for it to pass. But saying that, I'm trying to do as much as I can not to lose any more fitness and keep those levels high. That's also not easy but fingers crossed it'll be better soon."
Despite the initial concern, Haring is relaxed about his health now. And he accepts that the wait is just one of things, although it remains to be seen whether Saturday's return to Scottish Premiership action against Kilmarnock will come too soon for him.
"It was a bit scary at the start the first time I tried to come back,” he told the Edinburgh Evening News. “But we've done all the scans and I've been speaking to a neurologist as well.
"It's all fine, it's just that some concussions take a wee bit longer. Some players are out for months with a concussion so it's just the way things are sometimes. It's disappointing but I'm not overly worried yet."
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