The defender talked about his protracted stay on the medical table following damage to his ankle ligaments in the previous year.
When Jack Tucker sustained ankle ligament damage against Reading in November, he acknowledged he had no pain reference points.
After requiring two ankle surgeries, the 24-year-old missed five months of play and just recently returned to the MK Dons first team.
Before then, the defender had never experienced a serious injury in his career. Since making his professional debut in 2017, he has played in around 200 games. Thus, Tucker expressed uncertainty about his ability to recover from his ankle injury sustained during a hard challenge during the FA Cup first round match between the Royals at Select Car Leasing Stadium, or if the ailment was more serious than a minor knock.
“It was hard for me, because I’ve never had any big injuries before so I didn’t know how it should feel. I knew it was really sore though, and I tried to carry on, but I was dragging my foot around and I couldn’t really move,” he said. “I went down, but after watching it back, it didn’t look all that nasty.”
“I went for a scan on Monday morning since I was apprehensive about the next few days, and they said I required surgery. Together, we devise a strategy and schedule the procedure so that I can recover as soon as possible.
“It took a long time. It was a new hurdle for me to overcome and my first serious injury. Although it was a novel experience, I believe I’ve grown from it.
Though Tucker’s recuperation may have been much quicker, a relapse during his rehabilitation necessitated a second surgery.
“A little while later, as I was getting closer to making a comeback, something had caused another minor injury in a different area, which was really annoying,” he went on. I had already been out of commission for 10 weeks; I was given a return date, but I was informed that I would require an additional six weeks.
“I continued working, had a second surgery, and everything felt very quick after that. I didn’t have much time to think about it because I was back jogging in a few weeks, and now I’m as good as new.
Tucker noticed that during his protracted absence from the squad, he was starting to act more and more like a fan as he watched his teammates on the field mounting their challenge for promotion in his absence.
“I kick every ball!” he exclaimed. I was more involved in it than I had anticipated! Initially, I would watch with some anxiety, but for five months, I felt like a fan, encouraging the guys! It was wonderful to see them succeeding.
“I’ve wanted to be a part of all that, so it’s not nice to be stuck in the physio room when the boys are going out to train and play games and doing well.” However, when the team is winning, it is simpler.
