Harvey Barnes – Explanation of why such a small injury means so long out of Newcastle United action | OneFootball

Harvey Barnes had made a promising start to his Newcastle United career but the wheels came off in rather mysterious circumstances only 11 minutes into the match against Sheffield United.

As soon as the cameras zoomed in on him, you could see in his expression that it was a serious problem. The lad looked gutted.

The fact that his substitution changed the game and sparked off an absolute goal fest, must only have rubbed salt into the wound – small as it may be.

The latest injury update has confirmed that Harvey Barnes will be out until the New Year.

Why so long though with what sounds like such a piffling injury?

Is this shades of Marcelino’s poorly finger?

What happened to the magic sponge and “run it off son”?

Have we become a nation of soft touches?

What is the injury exactly?

It’s not the infamous metatarsal. It seems to be a ligament strain dubbed in America “turf toe”. Turf toe, more correctly called a metatarsophalangeal joint sprain, occurs when the ligament underneath your big toe hyperextends. This causes a sprain in the main joint of your big toe.

The bones of our toes (and fingers) are called the phalanges and these are the ones which are articulated and allow us to grip. They are connected to the main bones of the foot (the metatarsals) by ligament at a point known as the metatarsophalangeal joints (MTP joints), which are more commonly known as toe knuckles.

A turf toe injury usually results from excessive upward bending of the big toe joint. The condition can be caused from either jamming the toe (most likely in the turf) or due to repetitive injury when pushing off repeatedly. So, tackling, turning sharply and sudden acceleration would put a winger like Harvey at risk (and probably explains why it was something that never troubled me!).

Treatment is basically the classic RICE – Rest, Ice, Constriction, Elevation – which most of us are familiar with, but severe cases may require surgery. In the case of any joint / ligament strain, the key word, in terms of on-going treatment, is “rest”. The joint has to be given time to recover and for the ligament to repair itself.

This is where the time factor can be explained.

Three months sounds like an inordinate amount of time for such a seemingly small injury. However, there are three key factors to take into consideration – the size of the joint, its position in the body and the nature of ligaments.

The first is the very fact that it is such a small joint. It’s difficult to completely isolate it and stop it from working. It also, therefore, has a smaller blood supply than other, larger joints and it is the blood that plays such a big role in repairing damaged areas of the body.

Secondly, being at the base of the foot, the toe has to be in use whenever we want to move or even just to balance. Even with a boot designed to limit movement, it’s virtually impossible to prevent it from making small movements which will slow down the recovery period. This is especially the case with athletes who need to maintain some form of fitness and muscle mass during their prolonged recuperation period.

Finally, it is ligament damage rather than muscle. A hamstring tear may sound more serious and will certainly look more debilitating but it can be recovered from far more quickly. This is because the hamstring is a large muscle with a big blood supply. Muscles actually grow by being “damaged” and, unlike tendons, are used to repairing themselves. Hence they can recover more quickly.

So, for Harvey Barnes it’s going to be a frustrating three months or so while he waits for his toe knuckle to repair itself and does his best to keep the rest of his body in as good a shape as possible.

Meanwhile, his replacement in that match goes from strength to strength and is rapidly establishing himself as a toon legend in both playing terms and, now, celebratory ones.