Injury watch 2020/21

[Zip]

I’m not aware of other clubs having the level of hamstring injuries we are picking up. Are the players being pushed too much in training? With the sheer number of games being played training has to be light in between.

[Hound]

How many do we actually have? Swift is back now, Olise is pretty standard and obvs not so bad he can’t play. Just Joao isn’t it - and he is hopefully back on weds. Is Richards as well? Even if so, he could be back for Swansea as well

Puscas (he’s been out for bloody ages now) is hernia, yiadom knee, Araruna knee, Moore foot, Gibson quad.

[Zip]

We have had Joao, Swift, Richards and I thought Gibson with hamstring injuries. Perhaps Gibson isn’t. Olise obviously a potential issue for yesterday and maybe Swansea.
That’s more than usual. I’m certainly not aware with other Championship clubs having this number of the same type of injuries.

[Zip]

Just on Gibson it is a quad injury although he had a hamstring issue in the first half v Norwich.

[Nameless]

Just on Gibson it is a quad injury although he had a hamstring issue in the first half v Norwich.

Both Joao and Swift have a history of this though, and Gibson has hardly played so it can’t be overuse in his case.
I have no idea if other clubs have similar injury profiles, and no idea how you would find out.
It would be very unprofessional if an experienced manager and coaching set up weren’t aware of these risks but we’re hardly the only club with major injury problems this season.
It’s also interesting that I recall many times when people onhere have speculated that our training and medical setups were responsible for injuries or delayed recovery. Given we’ve churned our management, coaching and medical staff several times in recent years I was th8nking it must be the water at the trin8ng ground that causes it - until I realised we’v changed where we train !

[Sutekh]

Just on Gibson it is a quad injury although he had a hamstring issue in the first half v Norwich.

Both Joao and Swift have a history of this though, and Gibson has hardly played so it can’t be overuse in his case.
I have no idea if other clubs have similar injury profiles, and no idea how you would find out.
It would be very unprofessional if an experienced manager and coaching set up weren’t aware of these risks but we’re hardly the only club with major injury problems this season.
It’s also interesting that I recall many times when people onhere have speculated that our training and medical setups were responsible for injuries or delayed recovery. Given we’ve churned our management, coaching and medical staff several times in recent years I was th8nking it must be the water at the trin8ng ground that causes it - until I realised we’v changed where we train !

It’s not the calamatous second season under Stam where every week we’d get to a game and find at least one more first teamer had somehow got themselves injured “in training” leading to half a team out every game. The injuries suffered so far have nearly all been as a result of playing an actual game - though most injuries do seem to have been hamstring in nature (Swift, Joao, Richards etc.) - so I don’t think it’s something wrong in training as such. Perhaps it’s more that the underlying fitness regime wasn’t quite right coupled with just plain bad luck with knee injuries, a hernia then Meite getting multiple injuries in a awkward collision with the Norwich keeper. And, being Reading, the worst of it all in sync with games against Norwich, Brentford, Swansea etc.

[Mid Sussex Royal]

Need to remember it's not a normal season and there wasn't a normal pre-season either and its not just us at the top end who have had injuries. Both Watford and Norwich have had 6 or 7 out for a while at some point, the difference is they have premier league size squads to cope. Look at Bristol, they lost several players at the same time and haven't really recovered so that's at least 4 sides at the top including us and Bournemouth have had injuries to key players too. I don't know about the rest of the league as only really look at our rivals, it seems this has been made an issue as Luton had a fully fit squad yesterday.

What ever happens we will be in touch when most of our injuries get sorted (most due back in Jan) and the returning players will be fresh too which will help a lot.

[Snowflake Royal]

It's frustrating, but it's not as bad as it's been before, at least in duration if not numbers. We used to have multiple players out for most the season at once. Our current injuries seem to be relatively shorter term although the quick pace of games may mean they miss almost as many.

[Hound]

Pretty much all could be back after the cup game couldn’t they?

Only a few more games without in the league

[Royal Ginger]

I’m not aware of other clubs having the level of hamstring injuries we are picking up. Are the players being pushed too much in training? With the sheer number of games being played training has to be light in between.

According to some gambling website I was looking at there are currently 20 hamstring injuries across first teamers in the league and they are by far the most common injury. Huddersfield currently have three out.

Baseball’s season was utterly plagued by pitching injuries this year and the consensus there is that it was due to a shortened pre-season. General conditioning/ramping up could well be an explanation.

[paddy20]

Need to remember it's not a normal season and there wasn't a normal pre-season either and its not just us at the top end who have had injuries. Both Watford and Norwich have had 6 or 7 out for a while at some point, the difference is they have premier league size squads to cope. Look at Bristol, they lost several players at the same time and haven't really recovered so that's at least 4 sides at the top including us and Bournemouth have had injuries to key players too. I don't know about the rest of the league as only really look at our rivals, it seems this has been made an issue as Luton had a fully fit squad yesterday.

What ever happens we will be in touch when most of our injuries get sorted (most due back in Jan) and the returning players will be fresh too which will help a lot.

Fresh but not match fit. Could be another 3/4 games before they are at 100%

[Sutekh]

Liam Moore has a broken toe and is not expected back until early February
Omar Richards’ likely return will be the visit to Huddersfield

[Nameless]

Need to remember it's not a normal season and there wasn't a normal pre-season either and its not just us at the top end who have had injuries. Both Watford and Norwich have had 6 or 7 out for a while at some point, the difference is they have premier league size squads to cope. Look at Bristol, they lost several players at the same time and haven't really recovered so that's at least 4 sides at the top including us and Bournemouth have had injuries to key players too. I don't know about the rest of the league as only really look at our rivals, it seems this has been made an issue as Luton had a fully fit squad yesterday.

What ever happens we will be in touch when most of our injuries get sorted (most due back in Jan) and the returning players will be fresh too which will help a lot.

Fresh but not match fit. Could be another 3/4 games before they are at 100%

If you’ve been out for a month it shouldn’t take 4 matches to get back to match fitness should it ?
You’d hope players who have been out longer (Swift) get phased in so by the time they start a game they are properly match fit.

[RoyalBlue]

Need to remember it's not a normal season and there wasn't a normal pre-season either and its not just us at the top end who have had injuries. Both Watford and Norwich have had 6 or 7 out for a while at some point, the difference is they have premier league size squads to cope. Look at Bristol, they lost several players at the same time and haven't really recovered so that's at least 4 sides at the top including us and Bournemouth have had injuries to key players too. I don't know about the rest of the league as only really look at our rivals, it seems this has been made an issue as Luton had a fully fit squad yesterday.

What ever happens we will be in touch when most of our injuries get sorted (most due back in Jan) and the returning players will be fresh too which will help a lot.

Fresh but not match fit. Could be another 3/4 games before they are at 100%

If you’ve been out for a month it shouldn’t take 4 matches to get back to match fitness should it ?
You’d hope players who have been out longer (Swift) get phased in so by the time they start a game they are properly match fit.

I'd be interested in a sport scientist's take on that. I suspect it might take that long to get back to full match fitness and, as importantly, match speed.

[RoyalBlue]

Liam Moore has a broken toe and is not expected back until early February

Stress fracture to metatarsal according to VP. Doesn't say which foot but could that be related to his previous foot injury? Misdiagnosed? Missed? Not fully recovered?

[Nameless]

Fresh but not match fit. Could be another 3/4 games before they are at 100%

If you’ve been out for a month it shouldn’t take 4 matches to get back to match fitness should it ?
You’d hope players who have been out longer (Swift) get phased in so by the time they start a game they are properly match fit.

I'd be interested in a sport scientist's take on that. I suspect it might take that long to get back to full match fitness and, as importantly, match speed.

I was always told if you took no exercise for 2 weeks you didn’t really lose any fitness (although whether that holds good for an elite athlete I don’t know). Assuming an injured player is still able to do some kind of fitness work it would seem odd if in just a month they dropped so much that it would take several weeks of full training and 4 matches to regain the level they were at.
As you suggest the thoughts of someone with specific knowledge would be interesting. I’m guessing it will vary according to physiology, type of injury, position played and other factors.

[Snowflake Royal]

I can go months without running and it only takes me a couple of goes to get back to something close to normal.

Of course the step from barely moving to slightly moving isn't especially big or hard, or well related to a professional athlete.

[Stranded]

If you’ve been out for a month it shouldn’t take 4 matches to get back to match fitness should it ?
You’d hope players who have been out longer (Swift) get phased in so by the time they start a game they are properly match fit.

I'd be interested in a sport scientist's take on that. I suspect it might take that long to get back to full match fitness and, as importantly, match speed.

I was always told if you took no exercise for 2 weeks you didn’t really lose any fitness (although whether that holds good for an elite athlete I don’t know). Assuming an injured player is still able to do some kind of fitness work it would seem odd if in just a month they dropped so much that it would take several weeks of full training and 4 matches to regain the level they were at.
As you suggest the thoughts of someone with specific knowledge would be interesting. I’m guessing it will vary according to physiology, type of injury, position played and other factors.

RB is pretty right there in that it is match speed that will take a few games to get back to full pelt for a player after a few months out - his base fitness will be fine but he'll be split seconds off his usual speed of thought for a couple of games - the half hour on Boxing Day will have helped and if he gets an hour or so on Weds better still.

He will also be fit but not necessarily the right sort of fit to compete at a high level for 90mins.

[Nameless]

I'd be interested in a sport scientist's take on that. I suspect it might take that long to get back to full match fitness and, as importantly, match speed.

I was always told if you took no exercise for 2 weeks you didn’t really lose any fitness (although whether that holds good for an elite athlete I don’t know). Assuming an injured player is still able to do some kind of fitness work it would seem odd if in just a month they dropped so much that it would take several weeks of full training and 4 matches to regain the level they were at.
As you suggest the thoughts of someone with specific knowledge would be interesting. I’m guessing it will vary according to physiology, type of injury, position played and other factors.

RB is pretty right there in that it is match speed that will take a few games to get back to full pelt for a player after a few months out - his base fitness will be fine but he'll be split seconds off his usual speed of thought for a couple of games - the half hour on Boxing Day will have helped and if he gets an hour or so on Weds better still.

He will also be fit but not necessarily the right sort of fit to compete at a high level for 90mins.

We weren’t talking about players who have been out for several months though. Richards, Joao and Meite have been out less than a month and are the ones about to return.
Agree Swift is going to take a little longer to get back into full match pace.

[RoyalBlue]

If you’ve been out for a month it shouldn’t take 4 matches to get back to match fitness should it ?
You’d hope players who have been out longer (Swift) get phased in so by the time they start a game they are properly match fit.

I'd be interested in a sport scientist's take on that. I suspect it might take that long to get back to full match fitness and, as importantly, match speed.

I was always told if you took no exercise for 2 weeks you didn’t really lose any fitness (although whether that holds good for an elite athlete I don’t know). Assuming an injured player is still able to do some kind of fitness work it would seem odd if in just a month they dropped so much that it would take several weeks of full training and 4 matches to regain the level they were at.
As you suggest the thoughts of someone with specific knowledge would be interesting. I’m guessing it will vary according to physiology, type of injury, position played and other factors.

Very many moons ago I used to compete in athletics at a reasonable level. My own personal experience was that the very occasional break from training for just a few days could be quite beneficial. Any longer than that and I had very definitely lost my sharpness. I also found there was the psychological aspect too. When a race got tough I found a nagging doubt in the back of my mind about my ability to perform at my absolute best because I was aware that I had missed out on what I regarded as some important training. I began to feel tired and that could've been as much a state of mind as body.