Yes I KNOW I'm obsessed by KD BUT a little story on Team Squak suggests he had a very strenuous fitness test on behalf of Sven Goran Erikson which involved running on a treadmill for a long time at varius speeds. It' is suggested that this may have caused the stress that led to the fracture.

I suppose he could have picked the injury up at anytime but constant running on a treadmill IS stressful to bones in a way that on off running in a match situation isn't.

Bloody hell! If it does have any truth in it then the club should flaming well sue the FA!

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2002

Answers

I had assumed he got it when he played Leicester the other week. Wasn't he limping for a while?

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2002

If there were any truth in it it wouldn't be on Teamsquawk though, would it? ;-)

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2002

Yeah I know it's not really reliable as a source of info Softie but it caught my eye anyway.

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2002

Lynda, it's unlikely that he ran for more than about 15 minutes on the treadmill in total. That would include fast/slow stuff, and stopping and starting. Even if it was half an hour total, I can't see him running faster than 6 minute miling average. So he would have run between 2 and 5 miles total. Believe me, no-one gets a stress fracture running that sort of distance, on or off a treadmill. In fact, more likely off a treadmill, on say a hard cambered(eg road) surface than on a treadmill, which is soft/bouncy/flat. Any injury he's got was there already. He may well be prone to fractures. They should check out his diet, and his shoes/boots, maybe he has a footfall problem and needs orthotics. Stress fractures are caused by overuse, in particular if there is an inbuilt mechanical imbalance plus brittle bones. And it takes 6'ish weeks to heal, just like any break. Trouble is you can't see it on an x-ray because it's a hairline fracture. He needs an MRI. And he shouldn't train until it's fixed, or he'll be back to square one. He should keep fit by swimming and cycling. Medical report over. But let's not blame anyone outside the club. Certainly not a fitness check on a treadmill.

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2002

He'll miss Bolton, Soothhampton, City, Mackems, Arsenal, Liverpool for sure if it's six weeks. I was hoping for a return for the Arsenal game

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2002

He was injured against Leicester, and I feel sure this will simply be an unfortunate, but straightforward football injury. There may be an underlying concern about his propensity for fractures, but it almost certainly too early to be saying this.

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2002

The following is from an article on Soccernet tonight:

......Bobby Robson has not ruled out the possibility that Dyer's injury occurred during a special fitness test last week. While the club are still investigating, they are considering hitting the FA with a claim for compensation.

The latest problem is not related to the shin injuries which kept Dyer out for 10 months.

The Newcastle boss declined to explain why it was considered necessary to run the test on one of the fittest Premiership players. He said: "You'll have to ring the FA and ask them. I don't want to get involved."

But he confirmed that Dyer first mentioned a pain in his left foot 24 hours after undergoing a treadmill test at St James' Park 10 days ago. He sat out Sunday's FA Cup win at Peterborough and the break was confirmed on Wednesday, when his side won 3-1 at Tottenham.

Robson said: "We don't know how the injury came about and I'm not saying it was the result of the treadmill. We are trying to find out. But Kieron doesn't recollect a bad tackle or getting a whack on it. He had a great test - but then the last thing Kieron is not capable of doing is running".

"It was a specific test for the FA because the manager of the England team wants a record of everybody's fitness levels going to the World Cup. Kieron had been playing for five weeks without any bother and we decided we could fit it in last Wednesday week because we didn't have a game until Sunday."

"He did some mileage on the treadmill and the next day he felt it. Whether the two things are linked I don't know. It's rotten luck and he's a bit distraught. But we were lucky that the injury was diagnosed early because if he'd played on it for a couple of weeks it would have been a lot worse. There's a good chance he'll be back playing in the middle of March."

A Club source added: "The players are asked to run, basically until they can't go on, and their heart rate and other body levels are measured by a computer they are linked up to. Kieron ran for longer than the average player but it's impossible to say whether this contributed to his injury."

FA spokesman Adrian Bevington said: "I can't comment on individual players but these tests are part of an on-going programme which started before the Sweden game."

I still can't believe a single treadmill test could result in this injury, although it may well have exacerbated a pre-existing problem. Most certainly, if the treadmill did cause it then in my mind it raises even bigger concerns.

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2002

I still think it's the Leicester game, where he was limping for most of the match according to the Metro commentary.

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2002