Injured Melbourne Storm phenomenon Ryan Papenhuyzen has given an update on his recovery from a shattered kneecap nearly four months after surgery, advising that he still has a long way to go.
Papenhuyzen first injured his knee in Round 9 against St George Illawarra, and was forced to miss a number of weeks before making his return in Round 16.
By Round 18 he was back in the injury ward and things were much more severe, with a shattered kneecap being described by NRLPhysio as one of the most brutal injuries in recent memory, confirming an untimely end to his season.
Ryan Papenhuyzenโs patellar fracture pre-surgery! One of the most brutal NRL injuries weโve seen in years pic.twitter.com/3dNdPSxdIM
— NRL PHYSIO (@nrlphysio) July 22, 2022
But the Storm are keeping fans aware of the situation, with Papenhuyzen offering a monthly update on his recovery in a post shared by the club on social media.
โMonth four, post-surgery. Going pretty slow to be honest,โ Papenhuyzen says.
โNow I'm just trying to get that swelling down to a level where I can get some range, and with that will come quad strength hopefully.
โI didn't have much of a quad muscle anyway and now I've got to suddenlyโฆ form one. That's a big part of this rehab at the moment so it's a lot of the same videos, a lot of leg press and trying to do leg extensions. It's slow but it's coming along.
โI do feel much better than where I was at last month, but at the same time it's one of those (recoveries) where you go forward and backwards, it's never a steady line.
โIt's all going all right, back in the hands of the physios now and they're doing a great job of making sure my program is suited to me. Hopefully next month there is more to update everyone on. For now it's just the grind and hopefully in a better spot next month.
Watch the full video below.
An injury update from the man himself @ryanpapenhuyzen ๐ค pic.twitter.com/RFKql0uWpQ
— Melbourne Storm (@storm) November 30, 2022