{"id":1215749,"date":"2021-08-18T20:52:25","date_gmt":"2021-08-18T19:52:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/?p=1215749"},"modified":"2021-08-20T16:13:48","modified_gmt":"2021-08-20T15:13:48","slug":"marcus-rashford-shoulder-surgery-players-physical-wellbeing","status":"publish","type":"features","link":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/marcus-rashford-shoulder-surgery-players-physical-wellbeing\/","title":{"rendered":"Marcus Rashford\u2019s shoulder surgery: Who makes the final call on a player\u2019s physical wellbeing?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Elite level professional football is rife with injuries, as well as health and fitness concerns.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Players and clubs sit on a large, varied spectrum of acceptable risk and how comfortable they are with pushing on through injuries and discomfort. This naturally leads to the question: who should have the final say over medical decision-making?<\/span><\/p>\n

In an ideal world devoid of internal and external pressures of players having to perform, coaches having\/wanting to win, fan expectations, and so on, the medical team would have full authority and clearance. However, that\u2019s not how it works in the majority of elite football clubs.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rather, the push and pull between players and clubs is constant and often exists between groups within the club: coaching staff, medical personnel, training staff, etc. In some situations, the players\u2019 desires will be given more weight, in some the medical staff has ultimate authority, in others it\u2019s a more balanced process.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Further, some players are afforded more leeway and trust to play through injuries. A prime example being Manchester United and England international winger Marcus Rashford.<\/span><\/p>\n

The dynamic forward has played through a slew of injuries for both former manager Jose Mourinho and current manager Ole Gunnar Solsjkaer, earning the reputation of a high-pain tolerance player, willing to sacrifice his own health for the sake of the team.<\/span><\/p>\n

Under Mourinho, Rashford played through multiple soft tissue injuries including an adductor tear along with an ankle injury that flared up multiple times. After Mourinho was fired and Solskjaer took the managerial reins, Rashford\u2019s penchant for playing through injuries only became more pronounced.<\/span><\/p>\n

He continued on with multiple lower back (lumbar) stress fractures, a midfoot ligament injury that he picked up against Manchester City last season — which often required him to wear hard sliders during games to tolerate the discomfort — a hip injury that required pain-killing injections, and finally a shoulder injury. That agitation, a “muscle tear” that is either a rotator cuff injury or more likely a shoulder labrum and biceps tendon injury, is one that he has been carrying for at least 18 months; all of which culminated in a very limited showing for Rashford at Euro 2020.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

With Rashford trusted to play through pain and multiple injuries — for extended periods of time — at the risk of his own on-pitch performances (and the public vitriol that often comes with decreased performance) as well as potentially medium to long-term consequences, does that mean he should also have more say when it comes to deciding whether he wants to have a procedure that may or may not be 100% warranted?<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s exactly what Rashford and the club just went through, with a back and forth over a shoulder injury that eventually led to him getting surgery.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Thank you for all the well wishes. I had my surgery on Friday morning and everything went very well. A little sore but other than that I\u2019m feeling good. Hope you\u2019re all having a great day! \u2665\ufe0f pic.twitter.com\/cUZQpS0wIi<\/a><\/p>\n

— Marcus Rashford (@MarcusRashford) August 10, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n