Chris Wood: The pain of a long-term Forest absence, his injury explained and what to expect now

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Chris will be feeling that now.” Former Nottingham Forest defender James Perch has a pretty good idea of how Chris Wood, the club’s record Premier League goalscorer, will have been feeling since injury first sidelined him last October. The anticipated return to action of the New Zealand international striker could hardly be more timely, with Forest set to face Porto in the first leg of a Europa League quarter-final in northern Portugal on Thursday and their fight for top-flight survival to continue beyond that — and then there’s the World Cup on the horizon in June and July. But Perch believes the main motivation for the 34-year-old Wood, as he has gradually fought to return to action following a cartilage issue in his knee, will have been a more personal one. “Chris will be having that same feeling, because he has been out for a long time. But his main motivation will be that desire to get back out on the pitch and help the boys,” says Perch, who fought back from a fractured skull — and initial medical advice that he should retire from football — to help Mansfield Town challenge for the League Two play-offs in 2022-23. “You can actually start to feel guilty when you can’t help. Particularly if the team are struggling, or if they have something big to play for. You are sat in the physio room (getting treatment), and you feel bad. It is easy as a player to feel a sense of responsibility; a feeling that you should be out there helping everyone else. “Other players do understand. They know you cannot go out there when you are not fit. But you still feel like you are letting people down.” After making his public return in a B team game against their Newcastle United counterparts on March 20 — when he scored a close-range header after 11 minutes — Wood has also been involved in further matches at the Forest training ground. He could make his comeback in Porto tonight or on Sunday, when Vitor Pereira’s side face Aston Villa at the City Ground. He travelled with the squad for their most recent game — a vital 3-0 win at relegation rivals Tottenham — in an effort to make him feel part of things again. But it has been a long road back, and there will be more challenges to come. The cartilage problem first became apparent while Wood was on international duty, when he was substituted in the 62nd minute of a 1-1 draw with Norway in Oslo on October 14. New Zealand head coach Darren Bazeley described the issue afterwards as being “nothing too bad, it’s been a little bit sore”. Ange Postecoglou immediately sent the striker back into action, using him as a second-half substitute in what proved to be the Greek-born Australian’s final game as Forest head coach — a 3-0 defeat to Chelsea — four days later. Wood — who scored 20 league goals last season to spearhead the club’s unlikely challenge for Champions League qualification — has not made a first-team appearance since that day. The fact that, nearly six months later, only three of his Forest team-mates have bettered the two goals he scored in eight early-season league appearances underlines the importance of his firepower. In his absence, Sean Dyche — who had previously managed him at Burnley — has seen his Forest tenure start and finish without Wood being available. It was initially hoped the injury would be minor. Instead, Wood has missed 23 straight Premier League games in an absence of 194 days. “At the start, we thought it was only going to be two to three weeks. We had targets, and it just didn’t transpire,” said Wood in an interview with the Nottingham Post in mid-December.  “This is why it’s been one of the hardest (injuries), because there has been no end goal.” Just before Christmas, Wood had a scan, one the club hoped would lead to a return to training. Instead, it showed the knee had not improved significantly and that an operation was required. A post shared by Chris Wood 🇳🇿 (@woodsy39) “The reason they would probably have delayed surgery is because there are not a lot of good options for surgery in these conditions; no easy solution,” Luke Anthony, clinical director of GoPerform, a sports injury and performance centre, tells The Athletic. “It is something that has not developed a lot in recent years in sports medicine. When someone has a joint-based cartilage injury, it is a question of how you can improve and manage it, but it is a very difficult thing to solve. “They will have hoped rest would be enough. These injuries tend to be something you cannot solve with surgery. You can get it to a point where they can play; where you can sustain a player’s career. “It is likely that a player in his situation would remain what we would call ‘load modified’. They might not have what would look like a normal week of training; it would be focused to allow recovery. He might do shorter training sessions, he might have an extra day off, his match minutes might have to be limited. “At a lot of clubs, you will have players who are over 30 who have had injuries who are in this position. It is not uncommon. But it is a significant thing to deal with.” Anthony says there might have been a few different surgical options for Wood, depending on the exact nature of his injury. “One of the more common treatments is something called microfracture. You drill or pinprick tiny holes within the bone under the cartilage,” he says. “It bleeds and creates a kind of new layer of cartilage on top. But the new cartilage is thinner and not quite as strong. If the injury is of a small magnitude, players can respond to this well. “When it is worn slightly, cartilage looks like a carpet that has lost some thread. The other option with surgery is to clean that up. To make it more stable. Neither of the options is a solution. What they are is a way of managing the issue. You can add things to those treatments: you can inject things into the joint — you take blood out of the person and create a rich platelet solution, which can stimulate growth; you can inject a lubricant.” Anthony says that, once Wood is back in action, there are a few key aspects to keeping him on the grass for club and country. “As well as load management, it is the strength and rehabilitation that you do. Again, pain and swelling can sometimes make it difficult to retain the strength,” he says. “There will be a lot of gym work to maintain the muscle strength around the knee. “These injuries are tricky. You have to have patience, at a time when a manager might be pulling his hair out wanting his player to play.” Pereira is delighted to see Wood back in action, saying at his Wednesday night press conference: “Chris has started to train with the team, and he is available for the team. He is working with us. We need to manage him a little bit physically but he has travelled with us, which means he is in the condition for him to be available for us. “He is an experienced player, he can score goals, and it is important that he is ready to help the team in this moment, because we face a lot of challenges in the next days.” And while Wood might have hurdles still to overcome, Perch believes he’ll be highly motivated. “Sometimes you are told to rein it in a bit by the medical staff because you are just so keen to return. The hard part is listening to people when they tell you that,” he says. “Every part of you wants to help (the team). With there being such an important run-in, a vital group of games for Forest, he will just be itching to make sure he plays a part in it. “He will be wary at first, there is always a fear of getting injured again, but that goes out of your mind a bit more with each game you play.” Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Nottingham Forest writer for The Athletic. Previously spent 25 years at the Nottingham Post. Unsurprisingly, Nottingham born and bred. Meet me by the left lion. Follow Paul on Twitter @nottmtails