‘If you don’t do the rehab you pay the price’

In part two of the investigation into cruciate injuries, we look at advances in medical science.

Éanna Falvey can remember his own uncle’s situation, for instance: a diagnosis of ‘fluid on the knee’ in the ’60s brought his hurling career to an end, and by the time a London surgeon saw the injury — a cruciate ligament tear — four years later, a successful outcome couldn’t be guaranteed.

“The operation now isn’t a patch on what it was,” says Falvey. “You’re back in six to eight months if you do the rehab.”