Returning From Injury - 1 year on.

Injury is something that all athletes will experience. This doesn't make it any easier though. The road to recovery will be different for everyone and George's was no different.

1 year on from what just seemed like a heavy knock in training lead to 7 months off of skis. It was a normal day in the training lanes, on this particular day it was SL. A blink and you'd miss it fall whilst in a high speed combination resulted in one of Stef's quotes of the season. "How the **** are you still alive?" as he got up and skied off to lap round for the next run. But the left knee was causing quite a bit of pain and it was decided to sit the rest of the day out and rest.

The following day he was raring to go as it was the first of the last 2 GS sessions before heading to Bormio for the English champs. It was one of those days where everything clicked and was probably the best training day of the season, or even ever. Pure arced GS turns and fast!

Off to Italy and the weather for the first races was challenging to say the least. It wasn't his week. A full house of 1 finish, 1 DNF, 1 DSQ and 1 DNS run 2! Why the DNS run 2 I hear you say. Well, that knee that was giving him some bother was now giving him some more bother. After the first run of the SL during a comfort break down the stairs in one of the restaurants to the toilet George realised he couldn't race the second run as he couldn't get up the stairs!

Championships was over and so was the season. Badly strained ACL, LCL, MCL, torn meniscus, bone bruise and tibia fractures. The fractures were mainly internal, but the strength of his ACL had pulled the top of his tibia off!

There is no such thing as good timing for an injury, but in some ways it was good timing. Back home late February and back to school as well as starting the rehab. All this meant he could concentrate on his GCSEs that were in a few months.

The rehab was steady and measured and all going to plan. The return to snow was looking like August/September. It went well with training at Peer in September and then a win at The Lowlands Champs in The Netherlands. But there was a niggle with his back. This niggle came and went through the autumn training, but didn't go away.

The skiing was still fast, but the discomfort that the back was giving was an issue. By mid to late January some good race form was showing in his SL with a PB of 69 points followed by another a few weeks later of 55.

It was time to head home at the end of the January block and head back to school. We had decided to see a physio in the UK the day after he returned and this was one of the best decisions we had made. Adhip at Physio Art was incredible, a thorough first consultation assessing what the issue was, thankfully nothing more than some muscle imbalance and weakness. With specific exercises targeting the area, results were being seen after the first few days of rehab.

An intense week of daily trips to the gym to maximise the recovery saw his back issues really clear up. It shows with the correct assessment and a targeted rehab plan you can really push on and get back to full strength. We couldn't thank the Adhip enough for his support.

It just shows that injury can happen to the fittest of athletes and the road to recovery can throw up other issues as it did with George.

He's fighting fit and ready to return to Bormio for this years English Champs. Let's hope he doesn't get stuck in the toilets again!!