Terry jogging already
Chelsea captain John Terry was on Friday able to join in a jogging session, only 24 hours after surgery on his damaged back.
Terry arrived back in England on Friday morning, after undergoing surgery in France, and took part in some light jogging at his club's Cobham training ground. Chelsea's club doctor Bryan English, who accompanied Terry to France, said: "The instructions from the surgeon were to run the day after surgery.
"That is great for us and great for John. We are not going to do anything with John that is going to cause him problems. I am not in the game of pushing him out there because it is for the benefit of Chelsea - but I also don't want to hold him back unnecessarily."
English also hit back at initial expert opinion outside the club which estimated Terry's injury would sideline him for up to six weeks.
Surgeons removed a sequestrated lumbar intervertebral disc, using a revolutionary new technique, and English added: "I won't say exactly how long he is going to take to recover.
"But when I hear so-called experts say that he is going to have a six-week recovery, when people comment when they don't know his pathology, what he has had done or who he has been working with I have a bit of a problem with that.
"For John's particular diagnosis, which we came to a conclusion on 10 days ago, we tried injection therapy to relieve it. That was unsuccessful, which is why we went down the lines of surgery. You always keep your player away from surgery if you can.
"With this particular diagnosis, there is a way of removing the prolapsed disc which involves not cutting through any contractile structure - no muscle, no ligaments - just the disc that is causing the problem.
"It is removing it via an endoscope with an optic camera to see exactly what you are doing. It is a difficult procedure, and I am sure troublesome in the wrong hands.
"It took a few days to find out the best person to do it, because we are not going to send someone like John Terry to anybody other than who we think is the best and most experienced person in the world."
