Optimism for Owen
By Nick Raynor
December 1 2006
Dr Richard Steadman is optimistic of Michael Owen’s chances of coming back to play football this season.
The American knee-surgeon has saved careers of some of the greatest footballers, including van Nistlerooy, Alan Shearer, Roy Keane and Ronaldo.
Owen had 2 knee operations to give him the greatest chance of coming back soon, after his freak injury in the World Cup 2006 for
Steadman said:
"From what I've heard, he is doing very well in his rehabilitation.
"We carry out two operations in this type of case and the patient usually comes back to their pre-injury status.
"If you have a dual problem, my approach is to give people the best recovery from the injury with the slowest rehabilitation,"
"Once that's accomplished, you do the second operation and have the rehab from that.
"The approach we've taken gives the best chance to come back at the highest level again.
"I've had a number of patients in a number of different sports who have come back successfully at the same level they were at before the injury.
"If you try to lump everything together, you may have a good result. But a good result isn't good enough for a top player - you need a great result."