Andriy Yarmolenko: The inside story on his long journey back to fitness at West Ham
How altitude chambers, anti-gravity treadmills and dogged determination helped Andriy Yarmolenko recuperate from serious injury to grow into one of the Premier Leagues superstar players…
Andriy Yarmolenko is lighting up the Premier League and continues to be instrumental in West Hams rise to fifth at the table.
His supervisor, Manuel Pellegrini, described him as aspecial player after he followed targets against Norwich and Manchester United with a classy finish against Bournemouth last weekend. He is carrying us at times, stated team-mate Ryan Fredericks, who performs him to the perfect flank.
However, this fine shape has been hard fought .
As he strove to make a turn against Tottenham, A little under 12 months Yarmolenko, 29, suffered a ruptured Achilles. It is a rare but severe harm for a footballer. For Yarmolenko it was a cruel blow. A couple of months following having a high-profile movement to West Ham and also the Premier League he was confronting on the sidelines.
Here, with the Support of Richard Collinge, Head of Medical at West Ham, we tell the story of Yarmolenkos long battle back into fitness…
I think you understand right away whenever someone goes down with an injury like that, that its a horrible one. The moment we got in the pitch we knew he had been in a lot of distress and the player, in that scenario, is at a good deal of shock
The expression on the surface of his team-mates underlined the seriousness of the injury before Collinge and his medical staff came on the scene, while Yarmolenko clutched at his leg.
You do not see a ruptured Achilles which frequently, Collinge told Sky Sports. I have been in and around football for 20 years now and I believe I have seen 2 in my own career. They are rare but theyre big injuries.
Aware of the gravity of this injury, the West Ham staff knew they needed to act.
His wife was in the game, so we introduced her down to the medical room and explained the importance of the harm. Andriy was frustrated and surprised. Hed come to some other team in the Premier League and wanted to earn a first impression. It was just October and that opportunity had been taken away from him.
We placed him in a protective boot, gave him crutches and sent off him for an MRI scan, which confirmed our fears that hed ruptured his Achilles. With those ruptures you wish to run as quickly as possible. This was a Saturday and by first-thing Monday morning Andriy had undergone operation in London to fix the tendon.
After the hours following the accident, Yarmolenko needed to face up to the prospect of several weeks of recovery work.
After the surgery, the wounded right leg of Yarmolenko was kept in a protective boot that came off stretching exercises. During this slow span, his sanity was just as important as his physical recovery.
Watching the other players go out coaching every day was hard for me personally, said Collinge. To get him through that first 10 week period after the injury, we were hoping to be very positive around him. Andriy is a character that is positive so that helped, but the manager the gamers and the coaching staff were great .
Weve got a participant care team at the club also who assured Andriy along with his family knew we were as a team and club to offer him every support possible, from talking to some psychologist to reaching out to team hes used previously from the Ukraine. Theteam-behind-the-team ethic helped for Andriy right back to where hes currently.
Collinge and the training staff were keen to keep Yarmolenko as busy as possible to maintain his ailment. There was fitness work for his upper body and also to increase his heart rate and hydrotherapy to help keep him in shape.
Yarmolenko was set a collection of goals. The most important thing I have learnt over the years is that you give the player realistic markers of how the rehab programme is going to look and set them aims within that period, said Collinge. You need to ensure that the player purchases into that.
Buy into it . You will find extended hours in West Hams Rush Green instruction base and early starts but the attitude of Yarmolenko remained loyal. Daily to keep his struggle back to 29, if his team-mates had gone on vacation, Yarmolenko came .
His treatment was wide-ranging and employed technology. In an altitude room, Yarmolenko rode static bikes, exercised to a cross-trainer and ran on an anti-gravity treadmill.
Andriy was doing work at a simulated setting of 3000m altitude, clarified Collinge. He worked his heart and lungs harder, hence when he return into this pitch his fitness was not depleted too far. He would do high-intensity job on the bicycle as well as from December, we slowly increased the weight his own body was bearing as he ran to the treadmill
Whilst massage and muscle stimulators helped fortify muscles around the healing Achilles body fat tests and regular weigh-ins tracked the condition of Yarmolenko, meetings with all the team nutritionist substituted his diet.
After a morning in the altitude chamber, additional work together with all the strength and conditioning trainers followed in the afternoon and weekly Pilates courses helped with flexibility.
Every player wants to get back as speedily as you can and we want to ease that safely, said Collinge. Altitude chambers, cryotherapy chambers, muscle stimulators, shockwave machines, you can name it, theres a whole lot of information and gear out there. We are always hoping to come across these gains to acquire the player back on the pitch faster and more powerful and in a better manner.
West Ham boss Pellegrini maintained a close watch on this procedure. Yarmolenko may have been ruled out for the time however, much like injured players in the heart, Pellegrini insisted on him still being involved in team meetings and made to feel a part of this group.
Mr Pellegrini enjoys to be aware of what is happening with all the players that are injured, explained Collinge. I meet with him every single morning and speak through each participant, whether they are fit or not. The supervisor also sees the gamers in the treatment room, hell come in and ask how they are getting on.
He keeps communication open with injured players since the player still needs to feel part of this club and involved. Mr Pellegrini and his team are great at doing that. The players do not feel left out or transferred into the side since theyre injured.
Yarmolenkos job on the treadmill improved his strength throughout December and also come January he was prepared to get back to running on grass.
The strategy was again slow, steady, methodical. Straight line running evolved into agility work and from April he was able to combine with his team-mates for some non-contact sessions before, eventually, in May, contact coaching. But this wasnt the roads end.
When you set a player back into contact sessions, you need to develop his confidence, said Collinge. There is nothing like training to do that. Theres only so much we can do in a rehab setting until you unleash the player into a full-contact session and he has to be subjected to the stresses and strains which coaching exerts on this sidewalk.
Yarmolenko responded well and, had the Premier League season into June, hed have been back in action for West Ham. However, given the timing of his recovery, Pellegrini along with the medical team agreed it would be best to go easy and ensure Yarmolenko was 100 percent for July 1, the onset of pre-season.
That meant , together with West Hams initial team heading off for their holidays after attaining a top-half end in the league, Yarmolenko needed to locate other people to train with.
We kept an U23s training team back later specifically to help Andriy, so he could do extra training with them, said Collinge. He went back to Ukraine and also did some practice with the national group, even though we were very much commanding that instruction to be sure he didnt do too much too soon.
Together with his own holidays reduced to just a short break along with his loved ones, Yarmolenkos summertime continued to concentrate on his rehab.
Theyre the sacrifices you need to make, explained Collinge. People believe the season finishes mid-May, but for the health team, the sport science group we provide a service during the summer and Andriy was in for the majority of the summer.
When July 1 arrived Yarmolenko was prepared for action – and now he is reaping the benefits for all his hard work.
The rehab should not be taken lightly since it is a procedure that requires an awful bunch of deal, and its testament to Andriy that he came through it so well, explained Collinge. It requires a huge number of mental robustness and positivity to get back playing at that level again.
The tough work still lasts. We do not get complacent. The requirements of the Premier League are huge these days, emotionally and physically, and keep him when a player enjoy Andriy has been injured that they will need to do extra work that helps.
But he is a fantastic professional. He has been a sponge over the past 12 months and carried on board the advice my staff have given him and it is extremely satisfying to see him back, playing how he is.
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