KEITH ANDREWS: Life in the treatment room
What’s that they say about being careful what you wish for? If we rewind to this time last Saturday morning, I was in a hotel in Croydon, South London, unsure as to whether our match against Crystal Palace would take place given the adverse weather conditions.
I was desperate for the game to go ahead as I felt it was a good time to play them and gain three much-needed points. But, in hindsight, I wish the game had been postponed as I now find myself facing a lengthy spell on the sidelines after tearing a muscle in my quadriceps.
The game itself was a little scrappy due to the testing conditions, and I felt the longer it wore on a goal to either team would have decided it (for the record, it eventually ended scoreless). For my own part, I was feeling good, barring my persistently niggly achilles problem which has escalated in recent weeks and forced me to sit out the FA cup replay against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light. But, still, I was feeling fine right up until the 77th minute when a ball got played across me about 30 yards from goal.
I ran onto it at pace and struck it very firmly towards goal but as soon as I made contact with the football I felt a very strange sensation in my thigh. I have never experienced any sort of muscular injury throughout my whole career so I was initially unsure as to whether it was serious or not. However, when I tried to jog, I quickly realised that my situation wasn’t good.
After the physio had made his way on to assist me off pitch, he quickly applied some ice to the affected area and compressed it with a bandage. You often see this when players leave the pitch and are icing whilst sitting in the dugout, and the main reason is to try and stop or reduce the internal bleeding that has just occurred.
It’s not entirely certain why I injured myself but a number of factors could be at fault. The conditions were very cold, for a start, and it was also towards the end of a game when fatigue starts to set in and muscles are more susceptible to injury. It could also be a case of me not being used to shooting from such distances due to a change in position. Early in the season, under Owen Coyle, I was playing a much more attacking role and would be shooting regularly but, in the last couple of months, under our new manager Dougie Freedman, I have been used in a more defensive role and shooting opportunities haven’t been as frequent.
All that said, we do a lot of injury prevention work before and after our training sessions at Bolton so it’s very hard to pinpoint exactly why it happened.
After a fairly restless night on the Saturday I headed into the training ground the following day to see the club doctor and physiotherapist. After an ultrasound scan in which a fair amount of damage was detected, the plan was to have a course of anti-inflammatory injections in the coming week. After this fairly unpleasant experience I went home for an afternoon on the sofa watching the football with my leg elevated, compressed and frequently icing.
As well as having an ultrasound scan, it’s normal protocol to have an MRI scan. And, after having that on the Monday morning, and receiving the full report on the damage done, it was concluded I had a grade two tear of my rectus femoris, which is the main muscle in your quad. The injury, I was told, would keep me sidelined for approximately six to eight weeks. To be honest, I wasn’t too surprised to hear this and, although obviously disappointed, I recognise that injuries are part and parcel of football and I just need to get on with it now.
I’m a big believer in thinking positively while injured as it can only help in both your recovery and your sanity. I always work hard when I’m injured as it makes a big difference when you start training again and takes less time to get back up to speed. Of course, there will be days when I will be down and maybe need to be pushed or encouraged but that’s where good physios are very important.
Physios are the people you spend most of your time with when you’re injured so it’s imperative that they create a positive working environment. It can also become very monotonous being stuck in the same gym and treatment room day in and day out, so variation is also very important. Something as simple as a bike ride in the countryside instead of in the gym or a trip to a local gym for a change of scene can easily raise a player’s mood if they are down.
I know it’s only early days with this injury but already I’m feeling a lot better and reckon I’m making good strides. Unfortunately, I won’t be fit for the friendly against Poland on February 6 but I am confident of being available for the big World Cup double header in March.
On the subject of the Poland game, I know the manager had to cancel his squad announcement press conference because of the passing away of his sister. And so I just want to finish this week by saying that my prayers and thoughts go out to Mr Trapattoni and his family at this tough time.
