Tweet
ADAM GOODES' chances of making a dramatic recovery to play against Hawthorn on Sunday have improved since Monday according to Swans doctor Nathan Gibbs.
But if the 2003 Brownlow medallist is going to get back on the field just nine days after tearing the posterior cruciate ligament in his knee, he has to retrain all the muscles in right leg first.
And that could come down to Goodes winning the battle of mind over matter, says Gibbs.
"They have done studies which show that recovery from any injury can be affected by optimism and pessimism," Gibbs told The Daily Telegraph yesterday.
"People who are negative recover slower, while people who are positive recover quicker. So mind power does play an important part in the recovery process. And Goodesy is very positive and he wants to play as soon as he can and that's in his favour."
Goodes snapped his posterior cruciate contesting the opening centre bounce of the Swans' clash against West Coast at Subiaco Oval on Saturday.
MRI scans cleared the 24-year-old Swans star of any other damage to the knee joint and Gibbs believes the early signs of a quick recovery are positive.
"He's a good chance [to play] from the point of view of how he was Monday," Gibbs said.
"There wasn't much swelling but we gave the joint some cortisone and by Tuesday all the swelling had gone.
We know he can run even through we haven't tested him yet.
"The question is whether he can run, accelerate, jump and land comfortably and to be honest we won't know until we test him on Friday."
That will all depend on Goodes's ability to retrain his quadriceps muscles in particular to take over the role his posterior cruciate used to perform in stabilising and keeping his tibia bone in place.
Goodes has already started that process with Swans physiotherapist Matt Cameron.
"He does a bit of quads work but his body has to learn to do it on its own," Cameron said.
"When it learns that if 'I'm running around and jumping and changing direction I've got to have my quads on a bit harder and all the other muscles around my knee all working a little harder together', Goodesy will be right to play.
"That's how you get the stability back. It's not so much mental but more to do with a subconscious training."
But Cameron believes Goodes' build and playing style will work against his quest to be ready for Hawthorn.
"Given that he's a tall jumping type player I think he's chances are pretty slight," added Cameron. "But I wouldn't be completely surprised if he suddenly do everything on Friday.
"More than likely it's just going to take a week or two for his quads to take over and the muscles retrain around the area to do the job his posterior cruciate was doing."
But if the 2003 Brownlow medallist is going to get back on the field just nine days after tearing the posterior cruciate ligament in his knee, he has to retrain all the muscles in right leg first.
And that could come down to Goodes winning the battle of mind over matter, says Gibbs.
"They have done studies which show that recovery from any injury can be affected by optimism and pessimism," Gibbs told The Daily Telegraph yesterday.
"People who are negative recover slower, while people who are positive recover quicker. So mind power does play an important part in the recovery process. And Goodesy is very positive and he wants to play as soon as he can and that's in his favour."
Goodes snapped his posterior cruciate contesting the opening centre bounce of the Swans' clash against West Coast at Subiaco Oval on Saturday.
MRI scans cleared the 24-year-old Swans star of any other damage to the knee joint and Gibbs believes the early signs of a quick recovery are positive.
"He's a good chance [to play] from the point of view of how he was Monday," Gibbs said.
"There wasn't much swelling but we gave the joint some cortisone and by Tuesday all the swelling had gone.
We know he can run even through we haven't tested him yet.
"The question is whether he can run, accelerate, jump and land comfortably and to be honest we won't know until we test him on Friday."
That will all depend on Goodes's ability to retrain his quadriceps muscles in particular to take over the role his posterior cruciate used to perform in stabilising and keeping his tibia bone in place.
Goodes has already started that process with Swans physiotherapist Matt Cameron.
"He does a bit of quads work but his body has to learn to do it on its own," Cameron said.
"When it learns that if 'I'm running around and jumping and changing direction I've got to have my quads on a bit harder and all the other muscles around my knee all working a little harder together', Goodesy will be right to play.
"That's how you get the stability back. It's not so much mental but more to do with a subconscious training."
But Cameron believes Goodes' build and playing style will work against his quest to be ready for Hawthorn.
"Given that he's a tall jumping type player I think he's chances are pretty slight," added Cameron. "But I wouldn't be completely surprised if he suddenly do everything on Friday.
"More than likely it's just going to take a week or two for his quads to take over and the muscles retrain around the area to do the job his posterior cruciate was doing."
Comment