Dr. Raj, DPT breaks down the latest update on the Gunners’ RB’s calf injury
Right back Takehiro Tomiyasu had been recovering from a calf injury that he re-aggravated versus Liverpool and it looked like he was close toreturning after he was featured in the squad versus Brentford. However he was left out of the squad altogether versus wolves in a scintillating two-one come from behind victory.
New injury
After the match, manager Mikel Arteta commented that Tomiyasu’s calf injury was actually doing quite well but he had “felt something” in the other calf as he was going into team training.
How uncommon is this?
Firstly, that’s not all that surprising because when coming back from an extended hiatus and then ramping up, it’s not uncommon to have compensatory issues in other parts of the body especially soft tissue.
The body is interconnected and interdependent so when one link in the chain is weakened there’s now more stress on other parts of the chain
How bad is it?
Secondly, the description of Tomiyasu “feeling something”doesn’t really tell us all that much. That could simply be tightness, it could be a niggle, it could be an overt muscle strain – in which case it further depends on which calf muscle is injured (is it the superficial gastrocnemius, is it the inner (medial) vs is it the outer (lateral) or is the underlying soleus muscle).
Even within the specific muscle, the severity and specific location indicates return timeline.
Key indicator
If we don’t get an additional update from the club, the best indicator here about severity and progress will be Tomiyasu’s participation in training – is he working away from the team in physio? Is he in individual training on the pitch? Is he in group training which indicates a progression toward match play.
I’ll keep you updated as we learn more.
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Dr. Rajpal Brar, DPT, (@3cbperformance) is a physiotherapist, movement expert, strength and conditioning/fitness coach, sports scientist and mindfulness coach. He runs the LA and online based physiotherapy and athletic performance clinic 3CB Performance and you can subscribe to his Youtube channel (which posts a variety of sports injury, performance, and fitness related content).