From the Treatment Room

Head of Medical & Sports Science Stijn Vandenbroucke provides his latest update from the Treatment Room
James Tomkins is rehabbing very well. He is four to five weeks on from his surgery to repair his dislocated shoulder and he is already on the pitch doing short individual sessions with physiotherapist Dominic Rogan and rehab fitness coach Eduardo Garcia Parra.

A positive with an injury such as this that the player can work on his fitness, although we still have a long way to go with his shoulder mobility and strength.

It is good to be working with James in two lines – the first concentrating on his shoulder mobility and strength and the second on his fitness work.

The only restriction is his movement pattern. You cannot do too much on the pitch or else you run the risk of creating wrong movement patterns and this leads to other compensations.

Andy Carroll returned from his warm-weather training in Dubai two weeks ago and is now in the final rehab stage before he can return to the pitch and start running.

In the next four to five weeks we will be upping the load for Andy.
The previous stage was still very static, with a lot of work on the exercise bike, in the pool and in the gym doing slow-motion exercises. We have no more limitations regarding the mobility of the knee, which makes the rehab much more interesting and gives us access to more challenging exercises.

Looking forward, we are on schedule.

Diafra Sakho pulled his quadriceps – more specifically his rectus femoris muscle, which is used to kick, jump and sprint – in the game against Stoke City. We have seen the specialist once and will see him again next week to see how well the body has healed in this early stage. This will enable us to give a more accurate prognosis on when he will return to play.

Doneil Henry is continuing with his rehabilitation following surgery on the hamstring injury he suffered while on loan at Blackburn Rovers.

Unfortunately we had some bad news, too, as Guy Demel pulled his calf muscle in training on Friday and it looks like he will be side-lined for a few weeks. There will be more on Guy next week.
 
Stijn Vandenbroucke
Head of Medical & Sports Science