"Every tackle is different."
Alan Judge knows better than anyone what Ireland captain Séamus Coleman is going through after having his leg broken by Swansea City's Neil Taylor during Friday night's World Cup qualifier between Ireland and Wales.
Brentford midfielder Judge has not played for close to a year after suffering his own double-break in a clash against Ipswich last April, and he has told Emmet Malone of
The Irish Times that there were times he thought he would never run again.
However, now that he is close to a comeback, Judge knows that Coleman just needs to be patient and careful not to try and come back too early.
“You see with cruciate problems: some of them come back in six months and some of them don’t come back for nine, 10, 11 months. Everybody is different, every tackle is different; people twist and turn in different ways," he said.
"My foot was firmly planted, Séamus was in mid-air, I’m not saying that that makes the time he will be out longer or shorter, but you just can’t say it’s going to be “this” amount of time. That’s the one thing that I’ve learned through the injury."
Judge points out that the psychological impact of the injury will be tough for Coleman to overcome, but as his recovery progresses and he begins light training, that will wear off.
“Now sometimes it’s like you know you’re fine but somewhere deep down in your mind there’s still something that’s making you protect the leg for no reason. But the more exposure that you get to football, the more that passes. I’ve seen the difference over time.
"Maybe one or two times when I’ve gone to stop, I’d kind of limp to a stop and I’d be asking myself: ‘why have I done that, I don’t feel any pain.’ But the more you work on it, the more exposure you get to football, the less it happens.”
