Hibs: Paul Hanlon opens up on concussion that kept him out of action for four weeks

The Easter Road captain sustained a head knock in the first leg of the Europa Conference League third qualifying round tie against HNK Rijeka at the beginning of August.

The 31-year-old continued with a bandaged head but although he started the following match against Ross County, the defender revealed he had to come off at half-time due to feeling unwell.

Hanlon ended up sitting out Hibs’ next four matches but made his comeback in the goalless draw with Hearts at Tynecastle last weekend.

"It's disappointing when you do all that work in pre-season to get up to speed and then a head knock comes along and costs you a few matches,” he said in the broadcast segment of the press conference ahead of the home game against St Mirren.

"There are a lot of guidelines you need to tick off on each step of your recovery and I had a minor setback in the middle which put me back slightly.

"It was just about making sure I was 100 per cent before I came back."

Hanlon had hoped to return for the visit to Dundee on August 22 but was suffering headaches when heading the ball in training, sending him back to square one.

“I had a mixture of symptoms,” he recalled. "I felt quite ill in the Ross County game so had to come off and it led to headaches for a few days.

"I started the process of building back up with low-level gym work and running and when I started heading the ball, I was getting headaches again so the whole process basically had to start again, then it was the international break so I think that's why it felt like such a long time.”

Admitting that it wasn’t so long ago that he probably would have been back on the pitch sooner, Hanlon continued: “The doctor and physios are right on top of things like that now.

"They need to make sure you're 100 per cent before you play. There are a lot of protocols in place now.

"It was frustrating but I was delighted the manager put me back into such a big game last weekend."

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