Reading defender Liam Moore explained in a recent interview how he spent the first four months of his injury bedbound after an issue with his left knee was discovered at Stoke City.
The former captain is back on the training pitch now, hoping to gain minutes under boss Paul Ince after the upcoming World Cup break.
Not featuring for the club for over 12 months, he was controversially stripped of his captaincy under Veljko Paunovic and sent out on loan to the Potteries before injuring his LCL.
Speaking to Reaggae Boyz Commentary on his injury and international prospects with Jamaica, the 29-year-old opened up on a challenging year.
"I’ve been injured for a while now, but I can see some light at the end of the tunnel so I’m happy," he started.
"To break down my injury, I spent four months doing nothing at all. My remit from the surgeon was to spend five minutes an hour on my feet so I was doing next to nothing for a long period of time and gradually I had to start from the very bottom, building fitness. I started on bike and most recently onto the treadmill so step-by-step.
"My support network has been good. I’ve got a young family so they’ve kept me on my toes as much as I could be. The injury was strange, I had an issue with my left knee, which was niggling, and I eventually signed for Stoke on loan. I played a few games and actually got injured with my right knee in the FA Cup, just a normal block tackle which ended up being my LCL. I went in to get that scanned and whilst I was there, I said my left knee isn’t feeling too great can we just get it checked out.
"Long story short, that’s effectively saved my career. I had a big problem going on in there. I had Bone marrow edema- a bone bruise which can eventually turn into a breakage of the bone and a hole in the bone."
Now back on the training pitch, with manager Ince revealing that his teammates clapped him back onto the surface at Bearwood for his first session, all eyes are on the post-World Cup action for a return.
"We’ve got the World Cup break this year. Unfortunately, we didn’t qualify this year, but it gives a lot of people a good chance to rest and recover. In that break, it’s my pre-season. I hope to be fully up to speed by the end of the World Cup break and fit and firing, ready to go.
"I’m still under contract, my contract ends at the end of the year, so I’ve been doing my rehab there. The first four months of the injury I was homebound, and pretty much bedbound, but for the last three months or so I’ve been in at Reading. They’ve been treating me very well. The rehab has been very thorough, sometimes too slow for my liking because I miss the pitch, but at the same time it’s step by step."
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here