So am I to assume that Josh's arm cast had nothing to do with the concussion and in fact he likely has sustained two different injuries this off season? Or did he double whammy himself at the same time.
Hoo boy, this is how rumours start. I'd like to just clarify/correct this.
First, as far as we are aware, Josh never had a
cast on his arm. What we saw in fan photographs was a
sling, and not a very serious-looking one at that. These pictures appeared about a month after Worlds. At the time, Josh was skating in shows, but had fallen on it during the show. Coupled with Josh's own remarks at Worlds that his shoulder hurt (unsurprising), it is probable that the sling was a precaution.
Second, several weeks
after the sling photographs, we have footage and photographs of him on the ice, displaying doubles to a group of students, and helping to coach at a camp. We can draw from this that at this time, he did not have the concussion, because he is on the ice.
He withdrew from the Sun Valley show on 25 July "due to injury", though it was not specified what that was. However, on 19 July, he had retweeted promotions for the show, indicating that he had every intention of being there. So now we have the earliest probable date range for his concussion, which would be somewhere between 19 July and 24 July, when he was replaced for Sun Valley. HOWEVER, just as equally, this may not have been the concussion, and may have been a precautionary withdrawal.
Even if this was the concussion, it is still only a month since that date range, well within a timeframe for sensible recovery. Almost certainly we can guess that he sustained it prior to TSL's visit a week ago as he was not in any of their footage or material.
He and his team seem to be treating it sensibly and seriously, and I'm glad of that - I'm sure that when he steps out at Skate Canada he'll be at 100% health and ready to fire
.)
