10. September 2024
in ADMIRAL Bundesliga
Good news at LASK: The infirmary is clearing up. Team doctor Rainer Hochgatterer talks about the status quo, what is being done in terms of injury prevention and how closely the network is with the sports support team around new coach Markus Schopp.
A spirit of optimism at LASK. After a bad start to the season with four defeats in the first five league games, the appointment of coach Markus Schopp in time for the derby against Blau-Weiß (Saturday, 7:30 p.m.) has sparked a little euphoria among the fans. There is also reason to hope that the long list of injured players is finally thinning out. And noticeably so! With Robert Zulj after his broken nose (whether he will play in the derby wearing a mask is still to be decided), Tobias Lawal, Hrvoje Smolcic, Maximilian Entrup and Ibrahim Mustapha, five players who were recently injured are back in full team training. This also means a sigh of relief for LASK team doctor Dr. Rainer Hochgatterer, who has recently had his hands full with his patients.
What is the current status of the injury list?
At the start of this training week, we only have three injured players – Florian Flecker, Ivan Ljubic and Andres Andrade – who are currently completing their rehab program. All other players are in team training. Flecker (broken fibula) and Ljubic (thigh muscle injury) are on the right track and the healing process is going extremely well. We are also very happy with Andrade’s rehab after the knee injury (torn cruciate ligament) he suffered while playing for the national team. Everything is going according to plan here too.
The workload will be high in the autumn with the Conference League. In your experience, how important is good regeneration, sleep, nutrition, good preparation and follow-up after the sessions for the players right now?
After the match and after training, the energy reserves must be replenished and fluid loss must also be corrected. You don’t just eat and drink for the last match or the last training session, but also lay the foundation for the next exertion. Our Dunkelschwarz restaurant in the Raiffeisen Arena, which we run ourselves as LASK and where the focus is on a healthy lunch buffet, provides the perfect conditions for this. It is often not easy for our players to get enough sleep, especially after games that start at 9 p.m. This must of course also be taken into account in the training sessions on the following days.
Should we focus more on this in the near future in order to better avoid injuries and take preventive measures?
We at LASK have always taken this issue very seriously and place enormous value on prevention. Here in the Raiffeisen Arena, we have state-of-the-art and highly professional medical equipment and therefore the best conditions for our daily work with the players, both in terms of prevention and for treatment and therapy measures. When it comes to injured players, the type of injury must always be taken into account. The entire support team is constantly working to prepare the players for the demands of professional games, on the one hand, and to compensate for physical imbalances and weaknesses on the other, and to keep the risk of injury as low as possible through consistent load monitoring and planning.
How closely do you communicate with the entire LASK support team around coach Markus Schopp? What is important here?
Communication is an extremely important factor in injury management. It is very important that everyone involved is always up to date with the latest information. Even with minor injuries, things often change several times a day. This in turn is of great importance for planning the day’s football-specific training. For these reasons, it is very important that the therapeutic team and the sports support team work closely together, which works extremely well for us.
The hard work in therapy often enables comebacks sooner than expected. Is there an example or two of a player who has particularly amazed you in this regard recently?
I can’t and don’t want to name a specific name. What I can say, however, is that all of our players who have had long-term injuries recently have worked extremely consistently and professionally on their comeback during their rehab and have mostly made their way back very quickly.
Photos: LASK/GEPA pictures
Editor: Christoph König
