injuryupdate
03-12-2004, 12:21 PM
Stirling Mortlock and Stephen Larkham are out of the tour and Wallaby winger Clyde Rathbone is in serious doubt for the Test against England. It all occurred in the physical encounter against Scotland, where in the third minute of the game, Mortlock suffered a depressed cheek bone fracture in a tackle on Andy Henderson. In the minutes leading up to half time Larkham suffered a forearm fracture and Rathbone strained his groin. Unfortunately Rathbone is only rated a ten per cent chance of playing against England and has but a glimmer of hope of being fit to play. It's been a terrible time for the Aussies with these injuries added to that already sustained by Mark Gerrard. Gerrard has returned to Australia after straining his hamstring at training for about the third or fourth time this year. Hamstring strains are more common in AFL players and the speedier rugby players such as wingers. They are known to have high rates of recurrence in professional football, because of the pressure to play before full strength has returned. Read about the risk-reward dilemma for hamstring strains (.pdf file). http://www.injuryupdate.com.au/images/research/CJSMeditstrains.pdf There is also recent evidence that hamstring strains may be related to underlying lumbar spine pathology, which is thought to be a factor in Gerrard's problems.