Blackpool wing-back Andy Lyons today has provided an update on his recovery from the ACL injury he picked up at the end of February.
He discussed how the last few months have been and reflected on what’s been a tough season for him.
He discussed how the last few months have been and reflected on what’s been a tough season for him.
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00:00 nine months is normally the kind of scale that people get back from ACL injuries at.
00:05 Obviously, it's all dependent on how your recovery goes. So yeah, look, it's going really well so far.
00:11 It's obviously a long road ahead. But I'm probably lucky in some ways that the summer has come now
00:16 that obviously, you know, the next game being played will probably not be for another two and
00:20 a half, three months. And that will put me back on the pitch, definitely running and doing some bits
00:24 and pieces then. So yeah, look, it's probably, it's never a good time to get injured. But I
00:29 suppose with the summer coming up, it probably works in my favor a small bit that, you know,
00:32 I don't miss as many games. It's a step by step process. I said at the moment, it's still very,
00:38 like, you know, wake up some days and it feels sore, stiff, some days it feels great. So it's,
00:43 yeah, certainly, like, you know, reaching little milestones for me is kind of the best way I'm
00:48 looking at it. You know, I'm still not like, I'm just obviously on crutches and stuff for that.
00:52 So even you take that for granted, just walking around every day and not that you have to relearn
00:57 how to walk, but it's kind of like you have to educate yourself again about like the gay patterns
01:01 and like how it's actually, so it's how you actually walk and getting that feeling back
01:05 into your legs of, you know, so that's, that's the weirdest part about it all. Simple stuff in
01:10 your life, just showering, like, obviously I couldn't get the skin wet around the knee for
01:15 the guts of two or three weeks. Like, so you have to go in with a cover on the shower and then you
01:20 obviously need someone with you at all times for them first two, three weeks. So they're the kind
01:24 of, I suppose, I said the little things you take for granted every day, hopping in the shower.
01:28 Thankfully I can do all that now. I can look after myself, but certainly for the early stages of the,
01:33 of the injury, that's definitely the toughest part. Yeah.
01:36 Was it one of those injuries that when you first suffered it at Leighton Orient,
01:39 did you realize how bad it was straight away?
01:41 Yeah. So I actually did it before when I was 15. Obviously it's a bit different then because
01:47 you're 15 and things heal quicker and, you know, the muscles aren't fully developed and stuff like
01:52 that. So, but yeah, no, I knew straight away. It was one of those feelings. It's,
01:56 anyway, the Sunder ACL of that kind of injury before you kind of know that it's, you know,
02:02 it's a twisting, turning action and your studs basically get stuck on the ground. You go one way
02:06 and then, you know, the knee basically like locks in and out and, you know, the anterior cruciate
02:12 ligament basically snapped in the middle, like, and yeah, you just hear a pop, a snap. But it's
02:19 like one of those noises that you never forget. Like, I think the first time I did it and this
02:24 time I did it with the only two times I've ever had a pop or a snap on a football pitch.
02:27 So it's really weird. And as soon as you hear that, you know, something's wrong. And it was
02:32 difficult because obviously I couldn't go to hospital straight away because we were literally
02:35 stuck in the city center of London. So it was, you know, the logistics of things were just a bit more
02:40 difficult. So obviously I had to go back on the bus, which made sense because obviously I would
02:45 have been on my own down in London and I'm dragging probably a physio with me as well and stuff like
02:49 that. So I just felt more comfortable going back home and being with family and stuff like that.
02:54 But yeah, it's weird. I think the honest answer is so many things come through your head
02:59 and yeah, they're not very good toss. And that's just one of those things. I think the length of
03:06 time and the injury and stuff like that and the pain, first of all, is really painful.
03:12 And yeah, it's just it's an unfortunate injury. I think it's one of those things that they're quite
03:18 unpreventable as well. They're kind of just freak accidents that happen. But I think it's
03:22 certainly a mental challenge more than anything. A lot of it. I think these last few weeks,
03:28 I think once you get surgery and stuff like that, it's I think it's nearly come up to three months
03:32 since they actually done the injury. So I think mentally you kind of have to prepare yourself
03:36 and get over that initial shock of it. And of course, you had a photo after surgery. You look
03:41 very positive, very happy. So that is just how you was feeling after making that big step.
03:46 Yeah, look, it was obviously a big step. Now, I was probably on a lot of drugs and it was,
03:51 you know, that it was I was probably high as a kite when I was putting that picture up. But
03:56 yeah, I was certainly I was certainly more positive than I was. Obviously, there's always
03:59 that bit of anxiety before surgery and stuff like that. And you go under, you know, into an
04:03 anaesthetic and stuff like that. It's you know, it's a weird feeling. You're a bit anxious going
04:07 in. But once it was done, it was kind of just relief. And certainly the ACL is a weird injury
04:13 where you kind of have a build up to surgery, where you have exercises to kind of build the
04:17 muscles surrounding the knee. And it kind of helps on the other end of surgery that like,
04:22 you know, if you build up muscles beforehand, that it helps on the recovery. And so it was weird
04:27 because I knew it was just the knee was was was really, you know, in a bad way before I got
04:32 surgery. So, you know, once it got fixed, it certainly felt in a better way, albeit very
04:36 swollen and stuff like that. But it was it was certainly in a better way than it was beforehand.
04:40 How tough was that season, with that injury? You'd been in and out of the team.
04:44 You had to obviously personal stuff at the beginning of the year as well. So how tough
04:48 had that season sort of been for you? Yeah, it was really tough. Obviously, I had a personal
04:54 situation with my dad passing at the start of the year. And that was tough because it was a
04:59 long illness and it was kind of, you know, getting worse progressively up until the point.
05:05 So that was really tough. And then after that kind of happens, it's it's one of those that like,
05:12 you know, you've got to get yourself right mentally. Yeah, it's tough. But look, for me,
05:17 it's it's certainly learning, obviously, you know, to two really bad situations and probably the
05:23 the worst season in terms of not I don't mean performance wise, but just mean just all around
05:29 just everything that went on in my life, I suppose it was really tough, tough season.
05:34 But look, mentally, character building and certainly things that I can certainly learn
05:38 from. And I think both things that have happened this year will will definitely make me stronger
05:43 mentally and for the future and make me better. So obviously, I wouldn't wish it. I didn't I
05:47 didn't ask for that. But certainly I've got to use that and try to use it to a positive situation.