Stuart Douglas today provided an encouraging update on players making their way back from injuries.
Those currently on the way back are showing positive signs and Stuart brought us up to date with the progress of Jack Rudoni, Paul Kalambayi, and Will Nightingale. With Anthony Wordsworth, Adam Roscrow, Kwesi Appiah, and Reuben Collins having all returned to training, it meant that our club physio had far less players in the treatment room at New Malden.
Speaking about the recuperation of young midfielder Jack Rudoni, who recently suffered a hamstring injury, Stuart said: “Rudi is a young player and he hasn’t played at this level and intensity before. For young players, that can tell on their bodies and Rudi had a minor tweak in his hamstring, which is better. Today he went outside and did functional work. We were working hard last week with strengthening work and rehab. He went for a jog last week, just to get used to that again, and today he went to do fitness work outside with our new Sports Scientist Chris McConnell. He has a programme for this week and I don’t want to say when he will be back, but he’s looking good. It’s pretty much ‘watch this space’ and see if he’s in the next couple of squads.”
Stuart also issued a positive bulletin about Paul Kalambayi and Will Nightingale, two defenders making their way back from longer term injuries.
“They are both doing really well,” said Stuart. “Paul had an air cast boot on after he damaged an AITFL, a ligament between your tibia (shin) and fibula (lower leg) bone. We had to put that in the cast to give that time to heel, without flexing his ankle, which would cause that ligament to be stretched. He’s had that boot on for four weeks now, but he’s progressed well enough for us to be confident enough that he can take it off. Initially, we were thinking that Paul could be back in February and he’s definitely on target for that. The surgeon said he should be in that boot for 4-6 weeks. It’s four weeks today and he’s out of the boot.
“Will cannot put too much weight through his hip after his operation and he’s not allowed to go into deep flexion because that can irritate the area that he had repaired. We need to make sure that they maintain their cardiovascular capacity, so the work on the bike helps and you can also get them using the aqua physio. Will has done a lot of work in the pool. That’s quite tough, but there’s no load through your joints. When they are able to come back and do pitch-based work and then start to run, they will not be way behind in terms of their cardiovascular capacity.”
Take a look below at Stuart’s full ‘From the Physio Room’ update.