Harry Cochrane feared he had suffered a serious neck injury after a robust challenge from Scott Brown.
The Strathaven ace was left stricken on a ground after a tussle with the former Celtic captain in January 2018.
Hearts boss Craig Levein viewed the incident as retribution after a 16-year-old Cochrane had produced a man-of-the-match display at Tynecastle to end Brendan Rodgers' side's 69-match unbeaten record less than a month before.
Cochrane, who is leaving Hearts in search of first-team football this summer, revealed that he suffers lasting damage from the incident.
The 20-year-old told the Athletic : "Levein used to say to me, ‘He’ll try to get in your head. Don’t let him’.
"People do that, and I’ve tried it before, but it doesn’t work for me with my smiley face and these teeth.
"My collar bone is still out of place from that – it sticks out more.
"I was on the ground when they scored and I was thinking I had broken my neck as it went into a spasm. It was the scariest moment of my life.
"I got put on the bed and the nurses put two big weights either side of my head and said, ‘Whatever you do, don’t move your head’.
"It was about four or five hours from it happening until I got out of the hospital at 2am.
"I had my phone in my hand at that point and I dropped it straight onto my face.
"I was nearly crying. It felt like I couldn’t do anything right."
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