All your key questions answered about Liverpool FC striker Daniel Sturridge’s latest injury blow
Footballer-turned-physio Chris Malkin gives his expert insight into striker’s problems
The injury curse has struck again for Daniel Sturridge, who is facing yet another lay-off after straining his thigh in training.
Scans confirmed on Wednesday that the Liverpool forward has suffered a grade two tear and will be out for six weeks.
It is a big blow for Liverpool and a big personal setback for the 25-year-old, who has missed his club’s last 14 games with thigh and calf injuries.
Sturridge’s career has been punctuated by a series of injury issues and this latest problem has left Reds fans asking how so much misfortune can befall one player.
So the ECHO spoke to Chris Malkin, the former Tranmere Rovers striker who is now a qualified physiotherapist running his own clinic in Heswall, and got him to answer six key questions about Sturridge and his injury issues.
How will he have picked up the injury?
Chris Malkin (CM): Most likely, the muscle involved is called the rectus femoris. This is the most common of the quadricep muscles to be injured. The quadriceps are made up of four muscles, but this is an important muscle because it works over both the hip and the knee, so it’s a common muscle to get injured.
It’s right at the front of the thigh and most footballers term it the kicking muscle. That’s a common way to strain it, by striking a ball. You can also do it by sprinting or by over-stretching.
How severe is a grade two strain?
CM: With muscle fibres, you have a grade one muscle strain, which means there is some disruption of muscle fibres but no real loss of power. A grade two muscle strain is more severe, quite a significant disruption of muscle fibres. Alongside that comes pain and a loss of power. Grade three is a complete rupture of the muscle.
A grade one strain might disrupt 5% or 10% of muscle fibres, but grade two would be in excess of that. But it’s a little bit of a grey area, it might be 20% or it might be 40%.
There will definitely be an injury, a structural injury.
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Will he be fully recovered in six weeks?
CM: Once a muscle has been injured, it does develop some weakness. There’s some scar tissue there. They’re saying it’s a separate thigh injury to his original one. At the end of the day, whichever it is, it’s a weak link in his kinetic chain. If he’s working hard, working intensely, the first muscle that’s going to say ‘I’m not happy here’ is the injured one. It’s a weak link, he’s got this inherent weakness in his quadricep, his thigh muscle.
He’s going to have to be treated with kid gloves because they can’t afford for it to happen again.
How will this affect him mentally?
CM: The problem, psychologically, will be confidence - confidence striking a ball, confidence sprinting, confidence going back out over that white line to play at a high level of elite football.
He’s broken down a couple of times now. He needs to make sure he’s right when he gets back playing but the pressure is on. Liverpool want him in their team. The manager wants him in his team, Sturridge wants to be out there. That’s part of the psychological problem, as an injured footballer. It’s a pressure he doesn’t want on him. He’s not free from injury.
That’s part of being an injured player. It’s difficult when you’ve got pressures coming from all round.
What will his rehab involve?
CM: This muscle tear has got to heal, and that will take time. The fibres are disrupted so there’s a gap between the muscles. These fibres have to re-infiltrate the area and bring the muscle back together.
Initially he might just be icing. Then he’ll get some electrotherapy treatment to help with the way the collagen reforms, then he’ll go into a gentle stretching regime. The stretching regime will get more sustained so he needs to regain a pain-free stretch on his thigh muscle.
Once all that happens, he can start strengthening it. But he needs to strengthen both the thigh muscle because it both straighten the knee, and the hip flexors, because this muscle works on both joints.
Alongside that he’ll be doing his core strengthening. Then he’ll gradually be getting back into more jogging, biking and swimming, before he can get out there.
If it’s a six-week thing, the first two weeks might just be cajoling along this injury, gradually getting a pain-free stretch. He’ll need to keep his cardiovascular fitness going, while protecting this injured area. It’s a fine art.
The medical staff will be doing everything they can to get him right.
Sturridge has a reputation of being injury prone. Why do some players need wrapping in cotton wool more than others?
CM: These days they screen the players and try to give them the best of a training regime to suit what kind of player they are. He’s a quick player, he’s got fast-tech fibres. He had this routine of resting more, which may or not have contributed to his original thigh injury.
Biomanaically, he will be assessed. He will be on a core strengthening pilates regime specifically tailored to his needs.
There’s no rushing back from an injury if he’s feeling unsure with it. It’ll take as long as it takes.
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