Sonko Injury x 2

[Volvicanus]

When Sonko went down the first time, I honestly thought he had broken something. Just something about the way the leg went and he held it as he went down, not to mention the immediate pain that seemed to register, made me think that it was serious. I couldn't believe that he went back on.

Fearn, IMO, goofed horribly. I don't think it's in Sonko's nature to be a wimp about such things and the manner in which he registered the pain and how he immediately called for aid should have told Fearn enough right there.

[Royalupnorth]

Sometimes in football, the Physio's aren't given enough respect.
But I do not believe this is the case at Reading (anymore).
I 100% believe that Jon Fearn was happy that Sonko was able to carry on and it was JF's decision, not the fans, Sonko's or any of the bench's.

Given how many players get a knock in a game, if you took them all off as precaution, you would run out of substitutes.

I was called on to the pitch over 10 times in a game during my Reading years and not one was a serious injury requiring a sub.

Trust in JF. Its hard enough to get a job as a physio in football, you don't do anything to risk losing one!

Sorry but Fearn got this one wrong and I can only assume he wasn't watching the game enough.

How many times has anyone ever seen Superman go down in absolute agony, thrust his arm up immediately and then start hammering the ground in pain?!

Answer is probably none. Big bloody clue there! Halsey recognised it and immediately stopped play.

Even if Superman told Fearn he was OK to continue, had Fearn kept an eye on him like we were, he should have noticed that at no point was he moving freely. His jumping was nowhere near as strong and he wasn't able to move at full pace. Either the injury was affecting him or he was holding back for fear of aggravating it. Even if there wasn't a risk of him making the injury worse, he was far less effective than his normal self and that alone should have suggested a substitution might be a good idea.

There is almost no way you can examine for a ligament strain or tiny tear as soon as it has happened.

You can do various manouvres on the knee joint to assess for the viabiliy of the different ligaments but unless there's a barn door tear you won't find anything. The most you can hope for really is production of pain on certain manouvres but even then it's a very nonspecific test (i.e. benign injuries will cause pain so it doesn't help much).

John Fearn was therefore in a very tough position - he had to make a good guess and he made the best decision given the info he had at the time.

It's easy to blame someone in retrospect but there's no way he can be blamed for this.

Well I was loudly questioning Fearn's sanity/expertise the moment I saw him getting ready to send Sonko back on!

Disagree.
JF did the right thing.
I virtually guarantee that whatever the scan shows, it wasn't made worse by continuing.
Physiologically, pain inhibition will prevent you from doing further injury to an already injured body part, if it will be detrimental to your recovery.
Sonks would not have been able to continue if there was any chance of him doing further damage - his body wouldn't let him, brave or not.

When assessing an injury on the field, there are protocols to follow, every physio knows them. (Now that the Prem League thankfully insist on fully qualified physio's)
There is no way that Sonko would have been allowed to continue if he failed the on field assessment.

I would love to have my chance at Reading again, and if JF leaves, I would apply for the job in a flash. BUT... he did not get this one wrong, he did exactly what 100% of all physio's with experience in football would have done. If the worst happens, was not fearn's fault and if he is forced to leave, I would not apply for the job because it would prove they have learn't nothing from when I left the club 6 years ago.
And I do believe the club have learnt from the dark days of TB2, Bonner and Martin Allen!

[higher]

Wasnt it Tony Witter that played on for us for a big chunk of a full game only to discover he had broken his leg after? Presumably that would have been a minor hairline job rather than major compound break but it makes ya think.

[Royalupnorth]

Wasnt it Tony Witter that played on for us for a big chunk of a full game only to discover he had broken his leg after? Presumably that would have been a minor hairline job rather than major compound break but it makes ya think.

Will have been in a non-weight bearing area and thus would only have been worsened by doing the exact same injury a second time.

[Irvinchangeyaname]

He did and 5 mins later his leg went again at which point I got out of my seat and had an early half time cuppa to cool down!?

I presume you missed the goal then????! And I suppose Sonko celebrating the goal as he hobbled off was wrong as well? It may have been naive coming back on, but I am never going to fault him for that.

[RoyalBlue]

Sometimes in football, the Physio's aren't given enough respect.
But I do not believe this is the case at Reading (anymore).
I 100% believe that Jon Fearn was happy that Sonko was able to carry on and it was JF's decision, not the fans, Sonko's or any of the bench's.

Given how many players get a knock in a game, if you took them all off as precaution, you would run out of substitutes.

I was called on to the pitch over 10 times in a game during my Reading years and not one was a serious injury requiring a sub.

Trust in JF. Its hard enough to get a job as a physio in football, you don't do anything to risk losing one!

Sorry but Fearn got this one wrong and I can only assume he wasn't watching the game enough.

How many times has anyone ever seen Superman go down in absolute agony, thrust his arm up immediately and then start hammering the ground in pain?!

Answer is probably none. Big bloody clue there! Halsey recognised it and immediately stopped play.

Even if Superman told Fearn he was OK to continue, had Fearn kept an eye on him like we were, he should have noticed that at no point was he moving freely. His jumping was nowhere near as strong and he wasn't able to move at full pace. Either the injury was affecting him or he was holding back for fear of aggravating it. Even if there wasn't a risk of him making the injury worse, he was far less effective than his normal self and that alone should have suggested a substitution might be a good idea.

There is almost no way you can examine for a ligament strain or tiny tear as soon as it has happened.

You can do various manouvres on the knee joint to assess for the viabiliy of the different ligaments but unless there's a barn door tear you won't find anything. The most you can hope for really is production of pain on certain manouvres but even then it's a very nonspecific test (i.e. benign injuries will cause pain so it doesn't help much).

John Fearn was therefore in a very tough position - he had to make a good guess and he made the best decision given the info he had at the time.

It's easy to blame someone in retrospect but there's no way he can be blamed for this.

Well I was loudly questioning Fearn's sanity/expertise the moment I saw him getting ready to send Sonko back on!

Disagree.
JF did the right thing.
I virtually guarantee that whatever the scan shows, it wasn't made worse by continuing.
Physiologically, pain inhibition will prevent you from doing further injury to an already injured body part, if it will be detrimental to your recovery.
Sonks would not have been able to continue if there was any chance of him doing further damage - his body wouldn't let him, brave or not.

But that's surely assuming a person is fully in control of how they use their body and clearly in a game like football that is not always the case.

Also, there have certainly been cases where athletes have tried to compete with strained muscles and have then torn them. So, pain inhibition doesn't always prevent you from doing further injury.

In my own personal case I ended up having to have a disc removed from my spine because I carried on trying to do normal activities despite very back pain. Ended up pushing the disc right into the nerve and mild pain became agony.