Femi Seriki offered roadmap back to Sheffield United fitness as England man sets example ahead of long rehab road
Femi Seriki suffered a serious patellar tendon rupture just minutes after coming on at Charlton Athletic, with a lengthy rehabilitation programme now awaiting the Sheffield United defender. Joe Gomez's recovery and a detailed case study offer an insight into the challenge ahead...
Just when he should be relaxing over the international break after getting back to full fitness, Femi Seriki is instead facing up to the toughest test of his professional career after rupturing a patellar tendon at Charlton Athletic on Saturday. The right-back was only on the field for a couple of minutes at the Valley.
But that was enough time to pick up the devastating injury, so soon after making his long-awaited return to the United side after a separate knee injury earlier this season. His season is over, and the road to recovery could be even longer.
United are no stranger to knee injuries, with Seriki’s fellow academy graduate Oliver Arblaster out for 14 months not too long ago with an anterior cruciate ligament issue. This is a different injury, but no less severe.
The patellar tendon essentially connects the kneecap to the shinbone and is essential for straightening the leg, allowing a player to walk, run, jump and push off when accelerating. For any player it is vital; for one with Seriki’s pace power, even more so.
Generally ruptures of the tendon requires surgery to repair, but that is only the beginning of what can be a lengthy recovery. A case study published by sports performance specialists Sportsmith provides an insight into the rehabilitation process, following a 20-year-old Australian Rules footballer who suffered a ruptured patellar tendon during an aerial contest.
The defender underwent surgery before embarking on a carefully structured rehabilitation programme, eventually returning to competition 30 weeks after the injury. That, of course, doesn’t mean Seriki’s rehab process will follow the same path or timeframe.
The early stages are focused on protecting the repaired tendon and allowing it to heal. The player in the study initially required crutches and a knee brace, with significant muscle lost as a result of the inactivity. Movement was gradually introduced over the first couple of months.
Rebuilding strength then becomes the priority, with the player in the case study beginning to run at around the 10-week mark. From there, the rehabilitation becomes progressively more demanding, moving from running to sprinting, changing direction and eventually sport-specific exercises.
By around the five-to-six-month stage, the player was beginning to reintegrate into group training, before returning to action in a pre-season friendly approximately seven months after the original injury.
But from there, he made his competitive return in the second match of the season proper and suffered no further significant knee problems or soft-tissue injuries. The one match he missed was through illness.
There is another high-profile example of a similar injury in Joe Gomez, the Liverpool defender who suffered a patellar tendon rupture while training with England in November 2020. He returned to action after nine and a half months.
“It was the hardest point in my career,” he later admitted after earning a recall to the England squad. “It’s a massive part of my life and I wouldn’t shy away from it. Psychologically it was tough as ... I had to trust my body again.
“I went to play a pass, I planted my foot and then it ruptured. It was quite gruesome. My kneecap was halfway up my leg. A lot of it is a blur because of the pain. Naturally there was a bit of an underlying trauma. It was tough to deal with.”
Seriki’s challenge is not only repairing the tendon but gradually rebuilding the strength, speed and explosiveness that has become such a hallmark of his game. He will get all the care and attention he needs at Bramall Lane - for now, the biggest enemy is time.