This probably sounds a little dramatic but I honestly believe its true.
At 20 years old I was diagnosed with tendinopothy, more specifically patella tendinitis, on BOTH knees! I didn’t know what it was. I was 19 on loan at Luton Town. I had been called up to England C to play away against Hungary U21’s in Budapest. This was the biggest achievement of my career to date, along with getting bought as a 17 year old by Portsmouth FC who were at the time in the Premier League.
I remember so well the morning of the game. We had a light training session doing a bit of shape & set pieces and I was starting at right back. One corner routine was the ball set to me to cross first time. I remember putting in one of the best crosses I’ve ever hit! But I don’t remember it for that. I remember a sharp pain shooting through my knee as I did it. I didn’t think too much about it and definitely didn’t say anything to the management as I was desperate to represent my country, knowing I was starting too! I iced my knee for the rest of the day thinking it would go away before the 8pm kick off. It did start to settle but it didn’t go away. I was a young man and thought it was just growing pains. I had heard of osgood scatters syndrome in young lads who would suffer with knee pain because their bones were outgrowing the muscles during growth spurts.
I played the game which was a massive honour and I sort of forgot about the injury because I was on such a high. Back at Luton I didn’t mention anything to the physios because I thought it was a normal pain to have and it wasn’t stopping me from playing. I secretly used to strap my knees under my match socks to try and relive some of the pressure but it was getting worse daily.
Things came to a head when I blocked a shot in training & my team mate booted my foot. I knew straight away it was broken. As a kid I’d fractured both feet playing football and knew the pain was the same straight away. Although after 2 X-rays no fracture was showing I knew it wasn’t right. I had tried to rehab it as if it was bone bruising but as soon as I tried to run outside the pain was excruciating. I ended up falling out with the manager as he had accused me of faking the injury! We mutually agreed to terminate the loan and I went back to Portsmouth. After speaking with the physios there they sent me for an MRI scan. As I thought, the scan showed a fracture to my metatarsal. I was almost relieved to prove to myself that I was right! During this time resting my knee pain had disappeared so I thought that chapter was over.
When I started to return to training, the knee pain reared its ugly head. However this time it was worse & in both knees! At the time Portsmouth were facing relegation from the Premier League after heading into administration & a few of my young team mates were included in the first team squad. In my head I thought this is my opportunity to try and get in. Even if I just made the match day squad, to have my name and number on the back of a premier league shirt would have been a dream come true.
Throughout this period of training with the first team though my knees were getting worse by the day. I was struggling to walk up and down the stairs at home in the morning & after training. I was struggling to drive. Just changing gear caused unbearable pain. It got to a stage where the pain was so sever it was affecting my performance. That’s when I knew I had seek medical advice from the professionals. 1 ultrasound scan later, & an independent private doctor exclaiming ‘oh fuck’ when he scanned my knees I knew it wasn’t good. I remember him saying ‘how are you even walking let alone training?’ I naively hadn’t let on just how much pain I was in to anyone.
That day felt like the end of my career. It was spring time & my contract was up in the summer. I had no timescale of a return and would soon be unemployed. Everything I tried didn’t work. I let the pain heal by resting but as soon as I started running it would come straight back. I took a blood injection to try and increase blood flow to the tendon. Tendons are known to have poor blood supply and this was an option. It didn’t work. I built my leg strength up in the gym & felt really positive about it but the same of story reoccured. As soon as I tried any field based activities I broke down in pain again.
My contract was up. I wasn’t getting a new one & I couldn’t even train 2 days in a row. My dream of being a professional footballer was gone & I saw no way back. I was told stories about how Steven Gerrard had it at Liverpool as youngster. The difference between us was he was an England international and playing games every week! He could afford to miss 2-3 days of training to recover between games. I was a 20 year old kid who hadn’t made a 1st team performance yet. I continued my rehab at Portsmouth after my contract as I had nowhere else to go. It was like banging my head against a brick wall though. Strength work in the gym. Feel great. Hit the pitch and breakdown. Repeat.
Eventually a new head physio came in & made a decision for me. He had seen enough of my face & I’d had seen enough of his everyday. I was going for steroid injections as this was a proven method to help recovery & I didn’t have any other options.
Immediately I felt some relief! The initial pain was gone & I hadn’t felt pain free like this for months. I did worry though as I had read that having multiple injections in the same site throughout your career can cause long term damage in later life.
I made a return to semi professional football & despite the relief the injections gave me the pain eventually started to return. I played with strapping, k tape & I remember for one game taking a concoction of medication including period pain tablets as they were the strongest things to take over the counter! I could manage the pain between games in a part time setting but as soon as I returned to full time professional football I just couldn’t last a whole season without more injections.
Until…I finally discovered the Normatec!! Over 10 years since first suffering with the original injury I finally found what worked for me. Every day I was borrowing the Normatec to take home from Dagenham & Redbridge Football Club. If anyone else borrowed them I was always next in the queue! If they forget to bring them back in I would lose my head!
Since then, 4 seasons ago, I haven’t looked back. I purchased my own Normatec and seeing the miracle results it produced then wanted to bring it to everyone else at an affordable price.
The machine is expensive especially if you aren’t using it regularly or only need it for a short period of time. This is why I created Pro Sports Recovery. To help you & everyone else to recover like a pro without having to pay the price tag of a top professional.
The magic is in the Normatec legs and you can now find out with your own hire.