Ahead of Saturday's game at Barnsley, Head of Medical Services Alastair Thrush provides the latest from Sparrows Lane's treatment room.
George Lapslie suffered a nasty head-to-head collision at the end of the Coventry game which resulted in him requiring several stiches to a large facial laceration. Unfortunately the episode has also resulted in some further concussive symptoms for which he will require some extended time out, as this will be his second concussion in as many weeks. He will be continually reviewed by the medical team and will be re-integrated back into training as appropriate.
Josh Cullen continues to make good progress following the left shoulder dislocation he suffered away to Walsall. He is back outside completing ballwork and conditioning sessions with the strength and conditioning staff and is working on the final stages of strength work in the gym. It is hoped that he will re-integrate back into team training in the next two weeks.
Joe Aribo suffered an injury to his left knee in a tackle in our win over Gillingham. He has damaged a number of structures within the knee, but thankfully none of them too badly. He is currently in a protective brace whilst the knee settles, after which he will start his rehab work in the gym. It is anticipated that he will be out for four-six weeks as a result of the injury.https://www.cafc.co.uk/news/view/5c26175e0a334/injury-updates-on-joe-aribo-george-lapslie-lewis-page-josh-cullen-and-more
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Cullen back in training in 2 weeks is a big plus
As soon as a new owner arrives (God only knows when that will be).
We have no CEO
We have no CFO
But as soon as these positions have been filled our medical team must be the next thing to look at.
FUCK me if one of our players had an ingrowing eyebrow I swear he would be out for three months.
FUCK blaming bad luck there is not a team on the planet with this much bad luck change our medical team and bring in proper professionals you Belgium fuckwit.
With Cullen and Igor they're contact injuries, there isn't a lot you can do about them unfortunately.
Page, it feels, was a result of playing him while injured where blame should be shared between the coaching and medical staffs.
With Lapslie it's the same, a contact injury, no doctor can singlehandedly prevent a concussion. What does worry me with him is that a week or two ago, after his first concussion, he was allowed to train until he started feeling dizzy and lightheaded. And then he was in the matchday squad I want to say a week later (my timeline might be off here). He then had another collision and is now showing concussive symptoms once again. THAT, to me, feels like there was a mistake involved. It sounds like he was rushed back at least once, maybe twice. With what we now know about concussions, this is no place to get sloppy or risk it.
Can they do anything about a facial laceration or concussion? Can they do anything about two dislocated shoulders during one game which required surgery? How about a knee injury caused by over stretching in a game last week?
Come off it, these aren’t little niggly injuries or a reoccurrence of hamstring injuries for example. These are things that you literally can’t help, they’re contact injuries, impact injuries. Can the medical team do anything about that?
They are professional, they’re very good at what they do, they’ve changed a lot about how they do things and are in line with research to prove it. You can say about Clarke or Page but when you’ve been out injured for a while, you then pick up another type of injury, that will almost always happen. Plenty of other teams have the amount we do, Leeds for example, are top of the Championship but have had a whole load of injuries this season, as much as us and they’ve been things that the medical team can control.
I’d suggest before making a judgement or calling them out to be replaced, you actually have a bit of knowledge about what they do first, that would be useful.
For starters, the medical team didn’t cause the injuries......as to their ability to cure and get players back in action ASAP is something that at a guess you know absolutely nothing about.
I have no reason to believe that there’s any medical team around who could do any better.....for you to suggest that there is, is plainly ridiculous.....have you become a fountain of knowledge of the medical community all of a sudden......how presumptuous of you.
Some of our injuries could have definitely been avoided.
Playing players when not fully fit for starters.
The medical team would certainly of had some input regarding that.
Also hamstring injuries,unless your hamstring is buggered like Paul Mortimers was you should not pick up the amount of these injuries that we do.
If I was rich enough to buy Charlton (which unfortunately I'm not ) I would look very long and hard at our medical team that's for sure.
In previous seasons there seemed to be some issues with the treatment and reintegration but I don’t think that is any longer the case.
Two shoulder dislocations in the same game is unreal. Very unlucky after getting Clarke back from an ACL he gets a thigh injury. Also second ACL in as many seasons to a key player (JFC this season and Clarke last) is misfortune rather than bad management or glass players.
Double concussion for Lapslie is not the fault of the medical team. Maybe lapslie given his enthusiasm should wear protective headgear.
Aribo sounds like he got a bad challenge that shook up his knee, knee injuries are very complex and a bitch to physio right but can’t see any suggestion that after it happened anything wrong has taken place.
Very unlucky, maybe pushing it a bit hard to win and when a lot of players get injured, those remaining have to play with niggles which don’t heal which makes a more serious injury more likely.
Good luck to all those in rehab and hope it heals soon with fitness and form returning shortly thereafter to power home the season.
Are youth players overtrained and overplayed for the physical state of their still-developing bodies compared with 50 years ago?
Modern pitches also enable a faster game than the mud-baths of the past (just look at old b&w pics of The Valley!) which will impose different stresses on the players' bodies.
Improved medical techniques mean that players whose injuries would previously have been career-ending can now be "mended" and return to the game, but maybe not with their previous robustness, and Charlton has in recent years had a number of such players in its squads.
In short, are we comparing chalk with cheese?
Thanks to Roland this is the market within which we shop.
Injuries are inevitable regardless of the competence (or lack thereof) of the medical team in such circumstances.
Other clubs, even at our level, adopt a more professional approach.
You mention about not being fully fit, but name me a player that would say that they’ve played when they’re fully fit, because players are always carrying something, most of them get on and play, you would never know. Then there are others that break down easier, you often find these players playing at a lower level, and guess what, we’re currently in League One so is that a surprise?
You also haven’t addressed anything with any knowledge that is more than an average person. You have pointed the finger towards the medical team without justification, without knowing what they do on a day to day basis, without portraying any evidence, without looking at the situation compared to relative other clubs, and without the acknowledgement that the vast majority of our injuries this season have been impact, contact and uncontrollable injuries. Let’s go over a few players with injuries so far this season... Forster-Caskey, Vetokele, Cullen, Aribo, Lapslie, Bauer, Pratley. These are just ones that have come to my head straight away, with 5 of them currently out and would be in our squad otherwise. - please, tell us what you believe the medical team could have done to prevent them?
I would love it for you to have a conversation with anyone from the medical team and strength and conditioning team. You’d be amazed at what you might learn and understand what they do to try to prevent and treat these injuries that we have. I have in the past and this is why I can say with confidence about the work they do.
You can only control the controllables and the medical team have done that exceptionally well.
There is though just one thing I do wonder about, and you might or might not have an insight into this. Do the medical and fitness teams have the financial resources they need, to be as effective as they would aim to be?
Obviously, we won't have anything like the resources of an FAPL club for starters. That's a given. I am more wondering about our budget compared with fellow League One clubs. The reason I ask is, of course, the owner. He has been cutting everything, and I very much doubt that he understands that cutting the medical and fitness budget is potentially a lot more damaging than limiting ticket office hours.
Just a thought, would be interested in your view.
To play devil's advocate, you've pulled up @blackpool72 for his lack of evidence, so where's your evidence for the claim above?
Also, are you basing your knowledge on conversations with the medical staff? If so, why would they admit to you, a stranger, that they've done wrong. Of course they are going to sell themselves well, when in conversation with you, a fan.
You couldnt leave it alone, you just had to go there @bolloxbolder
The main point I was trying to make although I could have worded it better is this.
Roland as we know has cut the backroom staff to the bone.
As far as I am aware we still do not have a CEO or a CFO as well as other back room staff as well.
With the amount of injuries that we keep on getting I wonder if our medical team is as good as it could be.
I will not argue with Sage over medical conditions as he is obviously much better qualified than I am.
But if I wad to be in a position to buy Charlton one of the first things I would do (after bringing in a new CEO and CFO) would be to employ somebody to monitor all our medical staff and then report back to me.
If when reporting back they said that our medical team is doing a good job and that the injuries we have sustained could not have been avoided then I would accept their findings.
But if they said things could be improved then I would improve the
Either way I would want a second opinion.
Seeing the pitch being watered before the Gills game after the heavy rain in the days leading up to the match is bizarre. Players slipping and sliding as if their playing on ice is common place now ; and I don't just mean the Nabster !
I couldn’t comment on the budget and finances available to the medical team, but for sure, a bigger budget would allow us to have new, state of the art equipment. We do however have the anti-gravity machine which allows the players to be running on a treadmill with as much as their whole body weight being taken away.
The players also get the chance to go to St George’s Park to get treatment from their facilities and the team based up there, but this doesn’t happen too often, or as often as we would like, but that is understandable when you have all the other clubs using this service as well, unless you’re Man City and you have everything already.