Fantasy managers were put on high alert on Tuesday night as news filtered through of an injury to David Silva. Early reports were sketchy implying a range of ailments from soft-tissues to knees and ankles. Having now perused the footage and undertaken a physiotherapy observational assessment, we at the Scout injury nerve centre, can be confident in confirming that David Silva sustained an injury to the outer portion of the Hamstring group of muscles.
Silva starts the match showing no signs of movement inhibition, indeed, he appears sharp, fluid and full of running. Then, in the ninth minute, if you look very closely you can observe a very slight hitch in his stride as the hamstring appears to tighten, inhibiting extension at the right knee. He immediately stops and with no other player in the vicinity signals to the bench to be substituted. This is a positive sign. Hamstrings usually injure by either a forceful contraction or a direct blow and at no point did I witness any incidents that would give me cause for concern, additionally, Silva acknowledged the injury very early before any damage could be compounded offering further re-assurance of a minor injury.
He then leans over with knees flexed and upper body almost parallel to the floor, intuitively stretching the hamstring muscles via flexion at the Lumber spine without having to straighten the affected leg. He stays like this for about 25 seconds before pressing his fingers against the outer portion (medial aspect) of the hamstring group of muscles (Semi-Membranosus and Semi-Tendinosus), offering us a further clue to severity. If a significant injury had occurred the player’s hand would instinctively grab the affected part of the body and would remain around the area rendering any attempt at a stretch extremely painful.
At this point, still standing, he moves his hand to his ankle to accentuate the stretch further, feeling pain, he immediately and instinctively returns his hand to his affected, right hamstring. He then promptly looks for relief from weight bearing by falling backwards in a manner that further infers hamstring involvement, indeed, a movement almost identical to Samir Nasri’s backwards, statically flexed knee topple when injuring his hamstring against real Madrid. This indicates that an injury is present but only at the end of range, when the tissues are stretched. An injury of this severity could potentially resolve with a positive reaction to treatment in seven to ten days.
Whilst on the floor Silva can be witnessed leaning forward to touch his ankle, again, attempting to relieve the injury with stretching. A further indication of mild injury.
Helped to his feet by the physio, Silva now walks a little then stops momentarily and bends over to touch his ankle to stretch his hamstring further. He then walks to the side of the pitch of his own volition, and although exhibiting a slight antalgic gait, weight bearing doesn’t appear to create too much discomfort, indeed, he appears to have benefited from the bout of stretching, and walks off the pitch with a little more fluidity. This gives us further cause for optimism, particularly when we witness Silva, at the side of the pitch, twisting and turning on the spot, movements that would elicit pain and inhibition if an injury of any significance had occurred.
With Hamstring injuries the best indicators of time-scales are how long, post injury, it takes to walk without pain and if the player has a history of hamstring strains. I couldn’t find any documented accounts of previous hamstring injuries and therefore, taking the observed evidence in isolation, I feel the injury isn’t significant and barring complications, Silva could well be in contention within two weeks.
It is also worth mentioning Silva’s long standing and well documented problems with ankle in-stability, for which he underwent an operation in 2008, an injury that still flairs up intermittently. This, however, was an injury to his left ankle and Tuesday’s strain affected Silva’s right leg, but the chronic nature of his ankle injury may well see Roberto Mancini fostering patience and nurturing Silva back into the fold with caution. Reports suggest that Silva had precautionary scans on the ankle earlier this week.
Silva is reportedly due to have scans in Manchester later today. It remains to be seen if City reveal the extent of the injury shortly after, of if we’ll be forced to wait on Roberto Mancini’s conference on Friday.
