Glimmer of hope has Payten switching on the plasma to get back into the grand final picture
Glenn Jackson
September 24, 2010
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BUOYED by an encouraging scan result, Wests Tigers forward Todd Payten will today turn to the controversial PRP blood treatment process in a bid to mend his injured ankle in time for a grand final just eight days away.
Scans taken yesterday confirmed Payten had not broken his ankle, leaving ligament damage as his most serious concern.
The injury, which came in a freak training mishap on Wednesday, will keep him out of the Tigers' side for the preliminary final against St George Illawarra tomorrow night but Payten said he would be doing everything possible to take the field on Sunday week if his team makes it that far.
**''There's a chance,'' Payten said. ''The doctor has said I won't be able to do any training until late next week but he can needle me up for the last session. If all goes to plan, I'll be right to play.''**
That plan now involves platelet-rich plasma therapy, which helped Parramatta five-eighth Daniel Mortimer take the field at the corresponding stage of last season despite a hip problem. The therapy involves blood being withdrawn, then treated using a centrifuge and re-injected with an increased concentration of platelets - rich in healing properties.
Tigers doctor Donald Kuah said of the treatment, which has been used by golfers Tiger Woods and John Daly to aid recovery: ''We're going to give it a roll. It's really meant for a four-week period [of recovery] but one week - I don't know. It's still going to be an uphill battle for him.''
**That said, Payten maintained the MRI scan results yesterday were the ''best I could have hoped for''. ''I've done the ligaments on the inside and the outside of the ankle, and the bone's chipped away from one side. But there's no structural damage,'' he said, speaking by phone from inside a hyperbaric chamber, another component of his recovery process. ''They've given me a cortisone injection. [Today] I'll have the PRP injection, and then I'll be icing it and in the hyperbaric chamber every day.''**
Payten said he rolled his ankle on a bag of balls which were on the field at Concord Oval to mark out a training drill - a mishap he described as a ''total accident''. ''It was just a little mesh bag with a couple of tennis balls and a couple of golf balls in it,'' Payten said. ''We were doing sprint drills and I was on my back and I got up and started running and I just trod on it. I sort of rolled it front-ways as well as to the side.
''I knew straight away I was in a bit of trouble. It just happened so quickly. One second I was sprinting, and the next I was lying on the ground writhing around in pain thinking, 'This is surely not happening'. It felt like a bit of a dream at first.
''I was still in a bit of shock [on Wednesday night]. I was all over the shop. I really couldn't believe it was happening. But I iced it all night and it sunk in [yesterday]. I know the next few days are going to be pretty crucial, so I just want to get it right.''
Payten is no stranger to anguish in grand-final week. He kept a hamstring injury largely secret after pulling up lame on the Tuesday before the 2005 grand final - before taking the field and scoring the final try in the Tigers' win over North Queensland.
Payten's attempts to be fit for an unlikely grand-final appearance have been further complicated by the fact that his partner Julie is heavily pregnant.
Tigers coach Tim Sheens said the players felt for their stricken teammate but had no choice but to turn their focus towards tomorrow night's clash at ANZ Stadium.
''From the team's point of view we've got to move on but from Toddy's point of view, I feel sorry for him,'' Sheens said.
