Seamus Coleman ‘running by August’

Seamus Coleman could be back running in five months and must take encouragement from others who have recovered from broken legs, according to a lower-limb sports injury specialist.

The Ireland captain is beginning his long road to recovery after his fibula and tibia were shattered by a challenge from Wales’ Neil Taylor during Friday’s World Cup qualifier in Dublin.

Coleman underwent successful surgery the following morning, though medics have put no timeframe on when they expect the 28-year-old Everton full-back to return.

Doctor Sam Oussedik, a consultant trauma and orthopaedic surgeon at HCA UK at the Institute of Sport, Exercise and Health, admits that will depend on a variety of factors but an average recovery rate would see Coleman running again by August.

“The rate of recovery will be determined by a couple of things,” Dr Oussedik said.

“The amount of soft-tissue damage — the muscles, tendons, sinews around the area all need to heal. That is a process that takes four, six, eight weeks for the swelling to come out of the leg, then the focus is on how rapidly the bone is going to heal.

“Before you can put him through his paces that bone needs to heal quite firmly.

“Probably an average break will take somewhere around 15, 16 weeks to heal. Anything up to five months would probably be average. You would need to heal that much before you can certainly run on it.”

Dr Oussedik insists that the concept of a double-leg break, with the smaller fibula bone broken too, does not equate to twice as severe. He also believes Coleman should be heartened by the statistics concerning other athletes’ comebacks from similar injuries.

“With NFL injuries, over 90% of players with a tibia fracture operated on get back to the NFL,” Dr Oussedik added.

“Across sports participation in general, over 90% of people get back after a tibia fracture. The figures are relatively good. The things that hold you back and stop you getting there are complications, pressure problems, associated injuries to other parts of the leg and ligaments.

“If the injury is straightforward, there’s a reasonably proven route back to full action; that’s the key thing psychologically to hold on to.

“Knowing there’s every chance you will get back to that high level of performance — I think that’s the thing to hold on to and see him through a difficult process.”