Renowned sports medical expert Dr Peter Larkins expects Sam Walsh to recover well from his recent back surgery.
Walsh was sent in for surgery on a bulging disk in the week before Christmas, with a micro-discectomy taking place to remove a portion of the disc to relieve pressure on a nerve.
While discectomy surgeries in the past came with lengthy recovery periods, Larkins believes new techniques will help the Carlton midfielder come back quicker if his body responds well to the procedure.
“Micro means done with the smallest possible cut and disturbance of the muscles and going in with the new imaging techniques, so there’s been a lot of advances in that sort of minimally invasive surgery,” Larkins told SEN Breakfast.
“But the timeline again depends on the individual player’s response.
“The fact that you don’t disturb the muscles or cut through as many layers to get in and remove the bulging disk that’s causing the nerve pressure, that’s great news.
“Even a patient today having that operation here would be up and walking tomorrow and they’d be walking gently around after a couple of days.
“Athletes tend to be more motivated, so getting back to activity is a lot quicker.
“It could be as quick as a month for an elite athlete to come back.”
While Walsh won’t complete any football-related activities until he’s given the all-clear from his surgeon, Larkins expects the 22-year-old to get back to cardio-based work such as swimming and walking well before the season starts.
“The timing of it for someone like Sam who is fit and motivated … he’ll probably be able to get back walking, swimming and things within four to six weeks,” Larkins said.
“You wouldn’t put it less than six weeks in terms of what a surgeon would allow him to do with any heavy knocks, tackling or things like that.”
Carlton are opting to take a cautious approach with their star’s recovery with the club to provide more clarity on his return to play after the opening month of the season.