 I'm Lewis, play for Bournemouth. Cwb i ysgol, 2018, I suffered a knee injury, I ruptured my ACL. So, yeah, we had that, had the operation and got back playing in about nine months, which was great, my knee felt great and I was really happy with it. Unfortunately, about a week ago now, it's now the 15th of March, but about a week ago I did the same injury on the same knee and I just think I'm going to this time around record it and see if I'm going to help anyone or basically show you the ups and downs of a long-term injury, which there are many of them. I don't know how good I'm going to be at the video, I know I've done it before, but I'll give you my best shot. I wasn't expecting this to happen again. Football is everything to me and it got taken away from me. Lewis Cook's Premier League season is over after he ruptured his ACL against Huddersfield Town. Yeah, not going to lie, last night was pretty tough. I gave everything I had to get back. The best view comes from the hardest climb. Opportunity to get out of his feet, it comes back to Lewis Cook, no room to shoot, yes there is Lewis Cook! Nothing was going to stop me and it got taken away from me again. I am Lewis Cook and I am relentless. Hello and welcome to Deepdale as AFC Bournemouth looked to cap off a great week with a third consecutive win here against Preston Northend after victories over Bristol City and Watford. It was the same match day, I was playing a different position, I was playing a little bit higher up and yeah I was looking forward to it, I just remember walking on the pitch, checking the grass, see if I was wearing moulds or studs, which is studs every time for me. Looking forward to the game, enjoyed the game, it was a tough game and then yeah it happened. It was coming together between Lewis Cook off the ball there with Cunningham and now Preston on the other end will carry a threat I'm sure as they try and chase a win and in their position in the table when they're not going to go up and they're not going to go down. A salanchi over on the far side, Lewis Cook wins the tackle, the referee could play an advantage here but Lewis Cook was caught there and him and Cunningham had a run in, literally a moment before and there this time Lewis Cook was caught late by Cunningham. Lewis Cook is off the field and is hurt. And then yeah I just kind of knew shit, I had a crack laid on the floor and it was rolling around and to be fair at that point it was really sore for about 20 seconds and the leg went numb again similar to when I first did it. Yeah I was just in a bit of a bad way emotionally just because I knew what had happened. I knew straight away that I'd done it. I was just crying, it was actually I could not stop crying, I've never been like that before. Yes I'm Dr Craig Roberts, I'm a sports physician and I'm head of medical at AFC Bournemouth. I do remember that day I remember it vividly with him going down in the corner and clutching his knee. I could see that it was quite serious and joined him shortly after that and as I said the important thing for us is to be calm around the player. It's no point us going there and panicking. We trained for this, we run scenarios so it really goes into an automatic mode. We had our suspicions, we're always very transparent with Lou. We discussed that possibly he may have re-ruptured that ACL. As you're running up to the player I've got a mental list of the list of injuries he's had. For Lou obviously we're talking about his right knee, we know about his ankle. I didn't see the exact mechanism so those things are running through your mind. Is it his ankle, is it his knee, is it something else? I'm Loretta and I'm Lou's partner. It was in Covid so we couldn't go to games, normally I would go to the games. He went down and obviously he doesn't really go down to stay down a lot. I knew something wasn't right. Sorry, I had emotions. Loretta rang me, she was crying and stuff. I said I think I'm alright, I think I'll be fine. I think I've just nipped on the outside bits and stuff but I didn't want to say it to her straight away then. Message I got from him when he was on the phone was it felt like it but I think it's fine. So yeah, then it was the unknown. I would say that probably that was the worst time for me as a partner not knowing if he'd done it or not until he had a scan. I was praying that I'd done something else which is strange to think about it. I was just praying that I'd done everything apart from the ACL. Then I was getting a few pains and stuff after the playing on the playing. It could feel the twinges and tweaks right here so that was tough because it was just solidifying that I'd definitely done something bad. Yeah well obviously to really confirm it we had to do an MRI. We had prepped Lou in terms of what our suspicions were so that when he had the scan and the result came back it wasn't a huge surprise. Kind of confirmed what our thoughts were but it's never easy when you have to have that conversation with a player. It's been through a massive long rehab, got back to playing, got back to performing and then damaged his knee again. It wasn't an easy conversation but one that we had to have. I knew it was coming but obviously you've got that little bit of hope that it wasn't going to come. It was a long wait and Doc was really good at me. He told me look we kind of expected this, you expected this so luckily it's just an isolated incident again. So that was a positive I keep saying but yeah I was kind of expecting it. Yeah so this is Louis' MRI after his injury. Obviously it's a slice through his knee and we're looking at his cruciate ligaments. You can see that you have two ligaments. This is the posterior cruciate which is intact. You can see it running there. His anterior cruciate which has got a screw in holding it should be running up through that tunnel and attaching up there and you can see that that's been ruptured. So this was the first scan that we had a look at where we knew he had ruptured that graft of his and obviously needed some intervention to repair it. Yeah I'm absolutely devastated for Louis first and foremost. He was playing some really good football and before I even got he was having a fantastic season. He'll be back fitter and stronger. I know what type of lad he is. His personality is fantastic. He'll have his family and his girlfriend to support him and the full team. The full team are really really gutted for Louis but like I say they'll be back fitter and stronger. It is a tough time when you get injured. So it's going to be a difficult period for Louis but he will get back. He will get back. That's the biggest thing. I didn't know at all. It was a great surprise for me. Things like that you remember for your rest of your life when you go through a tough moment. It's like players do. The lads were great for me throughout it all when it first happened. They know what I'm like. They know when I need a bit of space and just crack on with my rehab and stuff. But that gesture with the t-shirts for the game was top draw on it. I really didn't expect it. It is very touching because you are a part of a team. Even the outside part of a team like partners and staff and everything. The sense of community and coming together is really important. Especially at a time when you're not really meant to be socialising and having people around. But you felt like there was everybody there for you. This is a CT scan, a 3D rendition of a CT scan of Louis' knee that we did in preparation for his surgery. The big thing was to see where this tunnel is. So where they dug the tunnel for his ACL to look at the size of that tunnel. To see whether it needed to be drilled out or what the size of the graft was. A really nice picture. Obviously it's not showing the soft tissues. It's only showing the bony part of his knee. That's his kneecap up there, fema and tibia and fibula down below. The main reason for that is to prepare for the surgery to make sure that the graft size is exactly right. Once you've got the diagnosis, obviously a re-rupture of his ACL. You've actually got a little bit of time to discuss it and determine what the best outcome is. So it's Louis' knee and he's very much part of that process. So we had a lot of discussions with Louis in terms of this is what it is. This is what we think we can do. These are the options. He did see two specialists before deciding what procedure is going to have and with which specialist. So yes, the clock is ticking, but actually sometime a little bit of time between the injury and surgery is better. It allows the knee to settle down and you generally have a better outcome if you delay the surgery a little bit. I think with Louis he ended up having surgery about 10 days later, which is a normal time frame for an ACL to go in again afterwards. Fodds, quickly before I leave for the operation. Just give you a little insight into my head right now, how I'm feeling with everything. I think obviously having such a serious injury can really be tough to take at the time. The first few days afterwards it was really hard. Working so hard a couple of years ago to get back fit. I've got the best people to fix money. I know that. I'm confident with that. Once that's done it's going to be a tough few days, tough few weeks after that, but once that period's over and I can start to walk again and things like that, I'm going to be positive and really throw myself at the rehab. I'll quickly show you my knee. I haven't put it on the video yet, so there it is. You think it'd be swollen? It's not swollen at all. Literally like a brand new knee now. Still broke, pre-op. It's got back to its normal, how it was before. I feel like at the moment there's no pain. She feels like running around, hop around and everything, but I know the risks involved with ACLs if you don't get them repaired. I'm only 24 when I've got a lot more years ahead of me, so I'm going to have to get the operation. But like I say, right now I feel like if I had to train tomorrow I probably would be able to, which is quite hard to believe, but yeah, here's what it is. See you now. So we're walking to the hospital now. It's only eight minutes down the road, so I'm going to walk there. I don't think I'll be able to walk back, so yeah. I feel a bit nervous, I think, but I'm going to be fine, so. Say again? No, it's early. London is so quiet. Very quiet, obviously with COVID and everything. Another thing is a hospital where we're going to today is called the Forties Clinic. I'll be operated on by Miss Sandy Williams. It's quite well known of surgery, and he does a lot of players and things. So yeah, that's where we're heading to now and I think it's a really good surgery and I'm sure I'll be in the best hands and the best care. Just had the operation. I think I went under about nine-ish. Got that done. I'm feeling a bit groggy right now, but yeah, the operation was a success. I'm very happy with it, so I'll try and talk as best as I can, but it's a little bit groggy. I'm sure I'm getting ready to get the swelling down. Right, we're going. Just facetiming the family. This is my mum. She's giving me some support, which is nice. She can't be here because of the COVID regulations and stuff that I've said. So yeah, she's looking after me as well. As she said, she wants to say something. Let's see what she can do and see what she's got. Hi! Is that here? That's just the pumps and fluid into the knee joint to make it easy to operate, really. That stays there for a couple of days, I think, so nothing to worry about. It's completely normal. It sounds a bit disgusting, but yeah. It's been a good day, a positive day. Glad to get it done so I can cross the hurdles now. Three points in the lads. Even better. That's good. Not the cherries. After the operation, I felt fine. I got my drugs and there wasn't much pain. I think on the GoPro, I keep saying, oh, it feels all right, I've got a way with it. I definitely had it and I don't know what I was thinking because two days later I'm sat in bed and I'm telling you now it is horrible, the pain. He was in a lot of pain, a lot more pain initially with the second ACL. Him being down, I felt quite strong, not because he was down but more because he needed someone to lean on. The early days are always tough. I think mentally for Lou, Lou's mental strength was incredible. He'd obviously been through a whole ACL rehab and that's hard in itself because he's got flashbacks of this long process that lays ahead. He had bad days but predominantly Lou was always positive and inspiring us each day. Home now. I'm not going to lie. I think throughout the period when I was in hospital I was saying how it's not really hurting much I feel good and I think that was just the pain killer's talking like I said. Trying to keep it straight as possible is going to be for a while now. Get my series in Netflix. I'm Johnny King, I was Lou's therapy lead for the early stages of his ACL rehabilitation. Did it worry me that Lou's did his ACL again on the same side? Worries probably not the first word that came to mind. Gutted for Lou, yes. Was I worried? No because I know Lou's character. But yeah, gutted, devastated for Lou and Loretta and his family that had done it again knowing that he'd have to go through that process again to get him back on the pitch. Yeah, those early conversations are reassuring trying to keep the player positive but also accepting, allowing the player to go through that grievance process and reassuring him it's okay to feel angry, it's okay to feel frustrated, it's okay to get upset and letting them go through their emotions because the last stage of that grievance process is acceptance and once he can accept that he's injured his ACL for a second time that allows us to move on with a positive rehab frame of mind. Bend, keep going, a little bit more, a little bit more. I'm going to help you. What's saying doesn't hurt? What's it feel like? Does it feel like sharp pain, achy pain, so it's a bend. But you've been operated on on the front. Are your scars on the front? So what do you think it is swelling at the back? Why would you do that? Loretta. How was your night? Terrible. One to ten. I'm getting ready on overnight, can't really see. We've got our shots and Paracetamol ready. This morning felt really stiff, struggled moving it really. Look, I went into football to see the video and when I go there I always feel like I get more work there than doing it at home. When you get home you can get a bit lazy, feel a bit sorry for yourself, which I was doing. Hopefully tonight I'll have a bit of sleep because that night wasn't good at all but I've got my painkillers and ibuprofen now and hopefully I'll have a nice sleep because I feel like I really need it. I'm back in football tomorrow, which is good. I don't know if I'm seeing the lads and stuff, but it'll be nice. I've got a game coming up so that might be a bit tough mentally to get my head around but I'll be supporting them. We go again tomorrow, which will be very similar to today. Good night guys. I'm planning the ACL process. We'll probably start by sitting down as a team and actually discussing what the end point is. Through the long process, where do we need to get Lewis to? What is that end goal? For Lewis individually that's probably a box-to-box midfielder playing in one of the most physically demanding leagues in the world. That's where we need to get him to. Then we work backwards and break that down. You end up with probably four stages and that makes it a lot more manageable for the player also for the staff because instead of one long journey you've then got four mini journeys into that so you've got the acute post-operative phase where we're looking to get the swelling down, the knee moving nicely, range of movement, flexibility, normal walking pattern. The next stage would be load integration where we're getting the player confident loading the knee with his own body weight in the pool, in the gym and then a strength accumulation phase where we're building strength and power and then that final stage is a sport-specific, position-specific workout on the pitch. In addition to the trauma of the injury itself obviously in the surgical procedures a lot of trauma goes on in the knee as well so he'll have a lot of information leading in and around the knee so just trying to flush that out. The main goal at the moment is to reduce swelling, improve knee-ranger movement really. I would say the next two weeks you will see a big improvement across the two weeks and then from probably week three post-surgery to three months post-surgery to slow down a bit. I don't know why I do it. I try and put a brave face on trying to walk with one crutch when I definitely shouldn't be but yeah, I think it was a couple of days after when I was back doing little things in the gym trying to get as much swelling down as possible and things and I was just really trying to crack on. I think that's me trying to show other people or I said this before in an interview when you're a footballer you're trying to be the best footballer and being injured is part and parcel of being a footballer so I was trying to be the best injured person I could have been so I was trying to crack on straight away and I definitely think the first month or so is massively important for your end result so I kind of took that on board. Yeah, obviously you can't do anything lower body not from your left leg but still not much you can do so I was just doing up a body that was absolutely massive. I'm not going to lie. You've seen the videos and the pictures. I was too big. Anyway, I could not run. Good job I couldn't run because I wouldn't be able to move anyway. So we're just taking the circumference markers different points of his knee. These two to monitor the swelling. Obviously we hope with time that the circumference comes down as the swelling reduces and this marker here is just the measurement of his thigh girth and it's a roughly monitor. He's losing any muscle. We measure these every day. The first period after surgery is probably one of the most frustrating. Normally he's used to being so active and seeing the lads go to games. He's struggling to walk or bend his knee can be really tough time for the player. What do you do? Nice right buddy? I have no idea what you're doing in the day. Graphic content. With the camera mode face that you've had. There's the damage. Awesome done there. Thank you. Yeah they use this to do actual... Tinolysis I can't say it. Anyway to stable that and then this is where they take the graph from so open that up, cut it out, drill holes in here put the graph in, pull it through there. Done. Cheers doc. Thank you for the days. Yeah I think the fact they've done his ACL before positive and negative so that obviously the negative being he knows he's got a long journey ahead of him. He's worked so hard to get back and then for nearly six months later to re-injure on the same side. We know that there's a risk of re-injury with any ACL reconstruction but to do it again six months later obviously devastating. But the positive of that, Lou knew that we got a really good outcome for those six months he was back his knee felt good and he knew the process he knew what he had to do to get back and I think that was that was positive for him. Yeah he's doing really well. We had a meeting with surgeon yesterday didn't he? Yeah. On zoom. And... He's happy if he's happy. If he's happy I'm happy. Walking normally aren't you? I'm not so lucky to walk. So we're at 114 degrees then when you're at 120 you can start on the bike. You can stop at a nice new caveat like a body circuit. What a nasty bike circuit. This is a milestone. The first few days of bike. Like that. How are you? I know it's great but... You've already seen kind of improvements in it already. Just got nothing. So obviously with this you can see in the side profile that he's walking on a gradient he's walking up the hill. So it helps with his extension a little bit to restore the extension of his knee. Obviously he's walking around normally anyway but this just reduces his body weight by that 20%. You cannot float into 50% body weight so if he weighs 77kg you can walk in as if he's 36kg. So there's less loads going through the knee less pressure going through the knee. But we're just offloading by 20%. Improve his confidence walking increases speed of walking. I might say just getting him walking on a slight gradient challenge of a little bit. Not that bad? Yeah. That's better. That's better. Does it feel better when you're walking? Just kind of just... You just see what you're trying to do. You're leaning more. It's natural to have bad days in rehab. I think it's important. As a medical and sports science team we were able to pick up on them cues and some days they were like whatever the reason, Lou, don't worry about rehab today. One day out of six, seven, eight months rehab it's not going to make a difference. Go home, spend some time with Loretta and the dogs and forget about your knee for a day and probably be for a second. I think it's important. Forget about your knee for a day and probably be frustrated at the time but he was able to take himself off and relax and take his mind off his knee. So that was UCS today. What day is that? Fourth. Fourth, when we go to line. So that was like a week ago. It's my day, isn't it? Progress is crazy. That's as far as I could bend it. I don't know what. What abouts for that? You know the third? Yeah, yeah. No, I don't know. That's probably down there, isn't it? Yeah. Okay, so we're seven weeks post-op now. We're blue this week. He's doing really well. Smashing through his rehab. We've got a new bit of kit today to practice on his recovery day. So the guys from Resol, VR technology company we've been working with to get this product in at the club. We know that after an ACL injury ACL injury after surgery not only is there a physical insult but there's also a neurological insult. So it's almost, we describe it as a brain injury as much as an injury. So retraining, perceptual, cognitive capacity and capabilities, decision making et cetera is really important. So the VR tech is going to help with that as you'll see today. He looked all the way from the screen. He's got his brakes up. He's got his studs lit. You've got your nose on. Okay, so you know what you're doing? Let's just go on the left. Right to your shots will help you. There we go. This was the hardest one for me. And a tip, what I find out, you bounce off the bottom wood. So bounce off. Yeah, nicely. So the nice thing about this tech is that when he's got the VR goggles on he's forgetting about his knee completely so any inhibitions he might have protecting an injury. This kit is great for reducing those inhibitions. Getting him to start feeling normal again encouraging normal movement patterns for ball specific movements. You've been on the VR already? Yeah, I'm real. I don't even take kind of do anything about your knee when you're on it. He's got to be careful when you're carried away. He's got to be careful when you're carried away. You shouldn't be doing it. Yeah, so those levels we're going to do level one and two and then we stop. One before I'm going to stop. That's cool though. Get all those coffee cups on. And the goggles. This is my normal sit-up. This is my normal sit-up. One more, one more. This is what I've got to deal with every day. He's been out on loan. He's back from his loan spell. Nick Court. How many goals you've scored? I'm Nick Court. I'm a first team physiotherapist at AFC Bournemouth. I've been coordinating Lewis Cook's rehab. I came into the process at about the 12-week mark. I took over from Johnny King, my colleague, who was moving on to another role. I was really happy to take over. Lewis was in a really good place. He'd been working really hard over those first 12 weeks. He was way ahead of where you might think he could be. I got a good week spent with him, with Johnny, working together, picking up the ropes and seeing where he's at. He was in a really good place. I was quite excited to start working with him. He's an excellent physio. We've obviously got very similar traits in the way we work. Slightly different areas of specialty. That was probably nice for Lewis to have a different voice. He probably got bored of listening to me for one and a half rehabs. I think Lewis was in a really good place. I think probably down to his mindset, straight away from the injury, from chatting to him. I'd spoken to him previously. He'd obviously been disappointed and been devastated even. I think he'd had a good mindset to get over that in a quick space of time and focus on the task of head-aving. His mindset, I think the fact that his body and his knee had been through this kind of situation before, maybe that stood him in good stead to start progressing really quickly with his rehab and just having good support around him from the club, from his family. I'm just getting cracking on with it. He was in a good place and I just had to try and keep that ball rolling. So you kind of move on to the next phase where we was at on the last video. I think I've moved on to the next one. So now I'm starting to prepare for running. It's like running mechanics. Like drills up and down the gym. Hops and things. Double leg jumps, stuff like that. The edge is really preparing for that. Obviously trying to keep maintaining the strength of my quads. Get the bulk back on the hamstrings car. So that's all coming in. No swelling in the knee now. So that's dry, near enough. A little bit of swelling but not much at all which is normal. Full range. I can fully bend it. Flying really. I think it's 11 weeks now. So, yeah. I can't believe where I'm at to be honest. I thought I'd be a rother of a way than where I'm at. He's such a dad now, isn't he? He's such a dad. What a dad. What are you talking about now? He used to be fun. Now he just talks about kids. Yeah, the relationship between physio and players fundamental. One of the most important factors in achieving a successful outcome after a big injury. Luckily, me and Lewis had built up a good relationship. We'd been through that journey through the first ACL and having that really good professional relationship but also that friendship outside of football helped, I think. He just gets football songs every day. He's got all the different football channels. He's a good England one. He's got a link up. He's got a link up. 40 Queen. He's going to grow up in three months time. But it's the Euro's campaign. You've got to get one. You know why you've got to get one? Because one day you might play for England. You never know. As well as the plan that you've put in place and the technical aspects of the rehab, you have to get on well. The player has to trust that you know what you're doing and you enjoy working together to get the most out of the rehab process. So we're not just the rehab facilitator. We're also a friend, a confidant. Someone that the player knows they can turn to that they can be truthful with and that support mechanism throughout the process. Yeah, these kind of people are the ones that get you through it as well because you spend so much time with them and you've got to try and balance that kind of professional and having a bit of fun with it as well. So both of them are great for that. Tash that slide. OK, no hands, yeah? Start with your hands and take your hands off. Ready? God knows what happened then. Exit. I don't know, I just lost control. That was good though, wasn't it? You ready? He just jumped off. Oh, when is it? It's landing. Left foot. He went slow motion for me. Sounds like my knee. A joking. It's not that, I just looked like I was scared. He was in a really good place and I think the trickiest part was that he was planning that the second half of his rehab and how we were going to hold the restraints on Lewis so he didn't feel like he was back too soon because we know of ACL surgery the longer you leave it towards the nine month mark the smaller the chance of re-injury. So actually with Lewis it was finding a way to keep them entertained almost because he'd done so well for the first three months looking past that to see how we're going to progress the remainder of his rehab. This is Nick Cort, ACB physio returning from his lone spell, from Arsenal. Now obviously Johnny's left to go to Leicester so Nick's kind of took his place. Knee wise feels really good for well, got full bend on her. Extension's fine. Swelling's a little bit left. That might not ever go. Is that right to say? It might stay. Have a little bit of residual reactive for now and then. Quads are massive. Hamstrings massive. Carves massive. It's not a suit piece. No, I'm joking. No, my quads aren't massive yet. My right one's still, it's got a bit bigger and keep working on that. Do some testing today. I think get some numbers. And yeah. I'm preparing to run on the pitch. It's crazy to fair running that early compared to last time. Took it slow last time, which was fine. I was always going to take the nine months so that's why we took it a bit slower. But this time can crack on when I'm able to do things. So running is next on the list. The first session on the grass after a long-term injury and specifically after an ACL is a threshold moment and something that the player can focus on and staff in part of that rehab process. We want to make sure that he's in the right physical state and mental state to be able to take that step to work on grass. So we don't want to rush it just for the sake of that psychological element. He progressed really well really quickly and was able to get on to grass in a really good time frame which stood him in good stead moving forward through the rehab. I think from a psychological perspective it's massive for him to feel that he's back on grass running in his football boots and start just touching the ball out on the grass as well, out in the fresh air. It feels good getting them back on low. It does, mate. It does. Long time. Still time elases. I forgot that. I hope I haven't forgotten how to play football. Obviously when I first started running it was a big milestone part of the process I can keep saying but physically I felt like lung wise felt fine it wasn't really hard, it was pretty easy just a few jogs but when he was alright it was a bit sore but I just wanted to carry on and make sure I could run for the next time. So like I said the main thing was that I didn't flare up and that's what you've got to try and see for it so it can adapt but at that moment it didn't feel perfect by any means but it was just good to be on the grass. For Lewis was great that just taking on board new ideas, new training methods new environments we had the opportunity to go to the Royal Ballet at Covent Garden the Opera House and that was a really great opportunity for Lewis to see some different types of athletes, dancing athletes working in their environment to be assessed by the physiotherapists and Pilates instructors there and to work with one of the coaches who's an ex-dancer and do some jumping and landing and just experience a different type of stimulus a different way of doing things and it was good, it was an appropriate thing for him at that stage of his rehab. Nice to meet you Lewis Nice to meet you too You brought your tights? No, I left them at home Can you swallow the descent a little bit? Can you give your way over here? Yeah, extend it out That's even tough that, you can feel it all Yeah, it's going to be strong Can you show me a jump landing a white spinnack and try not to make any sound on the ground? The last one Nailed the first three The first three were brilliant Thank you I'm not a bi-dancer I've kind of got 14 to go in there No, Nick asked me if I wanted to go Yeah, I just thought it would be a change of scenery, something new, something fun My gran really likes ballet I tried to get her to come but it was Covid so she went out loud Last few reviews were spectacular So you're going to have a little bit of a there's not obviously a lot of space here but a little bit of a rush of breath So you're just going to step onto the left you take like two steps to the right left and jump off the leg and you're going to a split The main guys go right up into a split in midair And then come back, you just want me to go on like No, you just go a little like terrible demonstration No, no Nailed it, that was so loud That was the loudest one Who's that? I'm off Nailed it Cheers Thank you Yeah, am I in? No, I'm not in though They're looking at my daltiflexion and then I'm in Yeah AFC Bournemouth have confirmed the appointment of Scott Parker as head coach The long-awaited appointment of Parker has now been concluded with the former full-on boss signing a three-year deal at Vitality Stadium also bringing five new members of staff with him to the south coast I'm Scott Parker, AFC Bournemouth's head coach My first ever encounter with Lewis was when I was playing to be honest with you He came down to Fulham and he was playing for Leeds and I remember playing against him and it was causing me some grief to be fair in the way he played and the quality he had so it was something I was very familiar with I'd then seen Lewis play for some time obviously in the Premier League so he was definitely a name along with a few others that I looked at and was looking forward to working with really I was still injured but I was raring to go I think I was on the pitch at that time so he was great for me and obviously similar position when I look at the team sheet and I see our squad which is a really good strong squad lots of depth he says my name kind of pops out it was great for me and great for my self-esteem and my determination to get back fit and get back on the team I feel like Love Island I feel like I'm on it with this I actually thought that was a blue band there I didn't like a documentary on it from when I was injured from the start Do you want to be on it? Say something then So just some quick feed mate obviously in terms of your knee and that you just determine how quick We start double bounce now one two through here there play back to him guys one two again through here not a double bounce at that time into the goal I felt that was a big part I thought it was a big moment I wanted to come away with the squad I wanted to come to camp I wanted to see him close up the staff wanted to see him close up we could get some good work and I didn't want him to feel distant away from the squad I knew that he was coming to the part of his rehab which was important but a part that also he was going to be getting closer to obviously coming back and joining us as well I didn't want him to feel like I said to you there's always the biggest thing with injured players there's a psychologically big element and I want him to feel part of that really so like I said he got in some really good work I see that over the course in Spain and then obviously he progressed from there to then getting back with us he spent a lot of days on his own working on his own which he do and working hard to get to a level of fitness that when he did come back he can reach the other demands of the other players really Casio, casio oh yeah that's a joke you're ready for the second action so basically the main bit of passing is quite nice about player's safe position so just basically like a little play and outs rule there's no intensity to it it's just basically getting you orientated again in your position and I'm just going to calm it down because I don't need to rush it yet don't need to do a side of you rusty he's committed isn't he tell you what when you're injured for a long time you missed a lot of things at heart as well even just a lot of things at heart well yeah when we had the new coaching set up starting in the pre season of this season and Lewis was in the end stages really of his rehab process I think that was something of a stimulant to Lewis to really push on to try and get back into the squad into the management plans I don't think he was going to try and cut any corners to get into that position I think he still realised that he had to complete the process and go through all the stages but the motivation there to get back in front of the new manager and to show what he's all about and hopefully get back into the team hold it there hold it there yes head again you know how funny thing is I was going to drop to my knees alright no what you're doing this soon doing this Ben run that doing it hard running hug us sidey I'll do one with you Ben yeah all the best mate got that heel in it mate top in it yeah mate top man yeah mate Ben Ben's funny man bare tings though it's hard because then you know you obviously ring sally up ring sally down yeah no I don't even know I was just waiting for ob sipping everywhere horrible mate that was a madness how would you do mate I did one I was thinking mate you're in big trouble yeah with this repair I mean Lou was ahead of the curve all the time he had very little swelling his strength was really good and often we would meet and say well Lou's looking so good can we push him back earlier but we know there's research showing that the longer you take for ACL rehab the better your outcomes are so obviously we certainly can't afford him to rupture it again and go for a third one so although he was looking really good and from a time perspective we don't normally look at time for return to injuries but in his case we had to say we've got to respect the time although his metrics are really good his strength mark is really good all the bits that we wanted were saying I'm ready to go we have to respect the biological healing process which is really tricky to measure and for us we had to actually do the extra time because we knew that that would give him a better chance of returning and staying fit yeah I remember it was junior cherries in the stadium so that's why the young children come and watch us train for a bit and yeah I remember just walking on to the pitch and we just had a little possession a warm-up possession but I was in a bib this is the most annoying thing about coming back from a big injury you have a period I think it was about one or two months where I was just in a bib and no one could come near me and I was just yeah it was great I was getting a ball I was passing it but I just wanted to do more there was a few moments where people forgot I was the big boy and nearly tackled me and stuff and I was like you can't come near me I was good I was popping it and no one could get near me but there wasn't actually allowed to but no it was frustrating because I just wanted to fully train to tackle people and to show people that I wasn't thinking about it and stuff but hindsight maybe after the training sessions I knew I'd look back at when I was on the sofa on the game really upstairs I was trying to sleep and I couldn't on the physio bird in pain it was a good moment just to reflect and realise how far I'd come and how lucky I am to still be playing With discussion with our performance staff in sports science we felt that Lou was ready to see what he needed to do all his metrics were where we wanted them and we were happy for him to go out and play those 45 minutes so we look at a lot of metrics we look at psychologically where he is we look at the fixtures which is the best one to go it's a home game on a nice pitch and all those factors we're taken into account discussions with Lou, discussions with the manager and then the decision made this is the game that he's going to go and play 45 minutes for so I'll just do this most of the day what? can't you like a knife? can you just get the door after? yeah I'm going to hide good luck can't use that see ya on the way to the vitally first game back it's like ages ago since I talked to the camera why is it six six and a half months since the op first game back 45 minutes today in the stadium against Arsenal so I'm looking forward to it excited it's been too long so I spoke to Louis prior to the game evening of the game one of the things I always want to ask a player is do they feel ready are they psychologically ready and I knew what the answer would be but as another criteria to check which he was adamant he felt 100% ready to be involved in that match we talked a little bit about what he's going to do for his prep before the game activation on his own and how he's going to prepare for the game but otherwise not wanting to put any more pressure than that on him he seemed calm and eager to get out there on the pitch enjoy enjoy enjoy the game leading up to the get the Arsenal game I was excited it just felt normal again I felt like pretty much in things and just leading up to it felt felt good felt easy I was very nervous when he was returning to play I would say that I was probably more nervous the first time I think because again it was the unknown whereas I knew he would be fine I knew that it was part of the process as he calls it little minutes tick over see how the knee is, see how it is recovering afterwards when a player returns we always watching them we watch them closely at training we try to see if they favour any side if they avoiding turning on one side the same goes in the game you're kind of watching how's he moving how's he taking contact avoiding contact because he's a little bit anxious and we didn't see any of those with Lou he just got stuck in and he did what he needed to do we also looking when they're getting a little bit fatig towards the 40 minute mark do anything change, does the bi-mechanics change do they change differently how they run and how they turn and with Lou we didn't see any of that he's coming off he says 15 no, he's coming off he's done well do you know I said he looked tired like, blowing a bit he just looked at it, yeah that's magic definitely did look like he was blowing a little yeah, I didn't want to come off I was enjoying it, I wasn't playing particularly well but I was still loving it they were good to be fair they had some good young players so it was a good game for me yeah, I felt a sense of relief like him wearing the shirt again and just I know how happy he is to play football to even train that is huge everyone will say this he gets annoyed if people don't try hard in training so yeah he takes training very seriously like everything even just seeing him back training and just in the kit being able to be back on the pitch and playing even 45 was huge oh yeah watching him playing in that Arsenal game there's obviously a mixture of slight concern and worry but really mostly pride pride in him getting back to where he's at in the time frame that he's done it and the performance that he's putting in but yeah when he comes off you've got a little bit of relief that he's got through that next stage unharmed and we can move on to the next stage of the process all right, of course we'll stop we've had these meetings before first question is really how are you doing good yeah feel back to normal now to be fair felt good for a long while last few games felt like I got better and better so yeah it's ready to crack on now to be honest you've done really well we're looking there it doesn't seem like 236 days it feels like it's gone quite quick I don't know you've probably gone through phases where it was really slow and really quickly no I think it's gone really fast for me the process being enjoyable being tough days hard days especially at the start but no it's been a nice process everyone's been really good to me helping me through it and stuff no it's gone really fast so yeah it's been a good process cool well today it's up to really the end of your rehab we always know we carry on with that sort of thing and we really just wanted to go through all the bits and pieces titled together you've got an excellent profile you've got you've got a link level characteristics especially for like a sediment filter we were all really excited to be able to come in and work with you like we knew what type of profile you had and this stuff just backs out really and already your baseline measures you're already elite in a number of areas so it's again to be able to push that out even further it's difficult because we're going to be and we've set those benchmarks at a really high standard to be fair so where you're sitting now you're in a really nice place mate from that perspective in terms you're going to be able to absorb and produce force you're in a really nice place I'm sure you've seen from like the games and like what the requirements are for each position physically like it's taxing but your profile like I was trying to allude to earlier is an elite profile for a number four and even if I profile it in the number eight position you'd be more than comfortable being an elite level number eight in this team as well no I'm just to say I think we came in obviously relatively late really into your process mate and it's been an absolute pleasure to be honest that the old moment growing but like now absolute pleasure and just looking forward to seeing you play now mate yeah that's it I'm just excited to see on the picture yeah it's just good to be out there certainly from my perspective if you were to start a game of football I'd be expecting you to complete 90 minutes I wouldn't be thinking anything less than that but whether or not I mean I can't start we win every game probably from me just a big thank you to you guys as well everyone in the room club obviously it was a difficult time when I first got injured but I felt like we all kind of got the focus right straight away cracked on it's not just my hard work without you guys definitely wouldn't be able to get to where I am today and then long days or coming away or whatever and going away from your family and things and yeah when I've been maybe in a bad mood and you've kind of parked it you probably had a few run-ins a bit different but a few carrots but yeah without you guys definitely wouldn't be near so yeah it's a credit to you guys as well cheers look in his final phase of rehab and now with him back training and playing there's a lot of discussions between the entire performance department and with the management as well in terms of what's best for Lou we build it up gradually you would have seen with his games his minutes slowly each game he got more and more minutes the same with his training and we manage that so yes his back training but his injury hasn't gone his rehab is ongoing and it will be ongoing for a long time by the point of the swansy game and he's been around the team for a couple of weeks and I think by that point Lewis I know is chomping at the bit to get on the pitch and tick that box and show the manager what you can do in a full game situation and from the staff from myself we've got no hesitation no problem we just want him to get out there and get that opportunity so we're buzzing through him at that point yeah I didn't even know how that was I was like he's got a problem here or I've been training alright but no I think it was just the lads are doing so well winning every week yeah I was just happy to be there to be honest I was like just get me on for 10 seconds that's what I want but no it took a few games to get on the pitch and then it finally happened Lewis Cook such a popular player such a wholehearted player comes for the remaining 8 minutes and what a moment for Lewis Cook yeah I enjoyed it I played in a different position I was in the number 10 and nearly scored which I completely would have been great for this documentary if I scored and unfortunately I didn't but yeah it was good I think my first pass nearly passed out of play so I was loiddy, luckily got a bit of pace and kept it in for me but I was even laughing at that I think we thought was it 3-0 up at the time yeah I was just running around sprinting around and stuff and when I missed that shot and just looked at the fans and they were just smiling laughing and stuff which was a nice moment but yeah it was just over in such a flash 8-9 minutes or something and I just wanted more to be honest I was very pleased I think you're right almost there was no room for sentiment I realised the quality that Luaz I know what he can bring to this side I see that over the course of weeks when he was training with us so I knew the quality what he would bring and I knew at that moment the quality he could bring on to the pitch against onesie as well I didn't expect him to get in the box and nearly score which I think he did on the day so yeah I was pleased he got back into it and obviously then to get back into the side so for him to get on at the end of the swansie game was brilliant for us for all the staff involved it's a massive team effort to get a player back on the pitch and we're all thrilled to see him part of the squad and to see him get on the pitch we just wish he had scored that final goal at the end it would have been the cherry on the top of the cake got a lot of hugs and a lot of high fives so I was just happy for me my family and the physios and the staff they work so hard as well and they've got to take all the credit in the world for getting me back to that point and just give them all a big hug and give Nick an extra high five he got an extra one just for his determination and his work ethic for me and it was just a really nice moment to be honest Lewis is a person he's the ultimate pro isn't he in the club used to joke that he's probably a 50 year old in a 24 year old's body he enjoys the simple things in life he's very humble he enjoys time with Loretta and the dogs or the boys as he calls them within a short period of time he's got to go through two full rehabs for his knee so it was relentless and Lou was a real true professional he arrived every day with a smile on his face ready to go and ready to crack on when I think about the whole process and the achievement I really think about it as a team effort the whole of the AFC Bournemouth performance and medical team, the coaching staff and obviously Lewis at the centre of that have all contributed equally in terms of getting him back to where he is now but mostly Lewis his mentality and drive and his relentlessness to just keep progressing each day especially coming back from a second ACL injury has been something to be respected and marveled at really a player that is relentless in what he's doing a player that wants to improve wants to get better and wants to keep moving along where he should be and I see a real progression in Lou I see he came back into the side then had a little tiny bit of a dip in that sense which happens when you have long-term injuries that definitely happens I think over the last 4 or 5, 6 weeks you're seeing a proper player and a top player and a player that probably everyone's been accustomed to seeing before I admire how kind he is sometimes it doesn't always come across that way at the start but he always thinks about everyone else he's very determined he just is genuine and genuinely grounded knows his roots and always looks after everyone and yeah that is a very good word to describe Lewis relentless when you're being through such a big injury and like I say I think people go through a lot worse when they get back playing football it's just what I've done for since I was about 5 or 6 years old I'm really happy and what makes me sad what makes me angry it's just part of my life really and getting back training even just training and kicking a ball around doing kick ups was such a big relief for me it's just who I am so the feeling of fully getting back fit playing walking out into a pack stadium as it is now it's just everything really and the sheer relief of playing football again at the level I left it at was a massive thing as well surrounded off a tough journey a lot of hard work and I'm delighted obviously coming from a tough spot a year and a bit ago and I'm delighted so it's everything I've dreamed of since I first got injured it's got to still be here when it I can't do this now 23rd of October ACL returned but it was later than that in the end so he's got that question I don't know why I know obviously it was seven and a half months so I'd actually been my first time was full nine months so it was quite ambitious I was a week off I don't know why I did it I just did it I'd even put ACL return that proves that I'd definitely thought I'd done it it's strange on the bed it's been crying my eyes out about two minutes before front wallay right on my leave