Hedges shares update on fitness after frustrating injury spell

Ryan Hedges is aiming to be ready for the Championship opener against Derby following a frustrating spell with injuries.

Hedges picked up a hamstring problem against Ipswich last September which kept him out of action for more than four months.

The Welshman returned to action in February and played nine times before his campaign was cut short by a recurrence of the same injury.

“It is nice to obviously be back in with the boys,” he told RoversTV. “I am still probably a few weeks away from full fitness but being back in and amongst it on the first day was a really nice touch.

“(Last season) was very frustrating. I think last season was one of the toughest I have had in my career, missing so many games.

“I played less than 20, but injuries are part of football and it is about how you react and overcome them. Now, I am just looking forward to getting ready and really hitting the ground running this season.

“The first time, I felt it go. It felt like someone had shot me in the back of the leg, I knew it was a bad one.

“The Southampton game, I went to set off and felt something but it was nowhere near as bad. I hobbled a bit, went down and walked off the pitch.

“I was hoping in my head I would be back for the last game or two but to be told it was a recurrence of the same injury, and looking at three to four months out, it was a big shock and took a couple of days to process.”

Hedges played a lot of minutes in a short space of time following his return from the initial injury earlier this year.

The 28-year-old had been desperate to help the team as they battled against the drop, but this time he can be eased back into games during Rovers’ pre-season schedule.

“Coming back and coming a lot of games in a short space of time probably hindered me but when you are in it, you want to be playing every minute of every game and thankfully the manager trusted me to play,” he continued.

“In the long run, it probably wasn’t the greatest thing for my body to go from not playing in four months to a lot of minutes in a short space of time, but that is something we have looked at.

“Moving forward, hopefully we can manage my load to make sure I am getting the right minutes at the right time to keep myself fully fit for the season. We are thinking bigger picture rather than Saturday, Tuesday.

“The second time it happened, the medical team were really good with me. We looked at a lot of different things and circumstances.

“We explored a lot of avenues and have taken little one and two per cents. Hopefully, they will all add up and make a big difference this season.”