Ipswich Town fitness coach Jim Henry delivered an injury updates on some of the club’s long-term absentees at last night’s Supporters’ Club AGM.
Striker Freddie Sears suffered a cruciate knee ligament injury at Norwich back in February, with the club releasing footage of him returning to training earlier this week.
"Freddie did some jump training two days ago," explained Henry.
"I think you're still talking about a number of months until he is fully fit. We have to be careful with the risk of re-injury. He's probably a few months away still Freddie."
Jack Lankester missed the second half of last season after suffering a stress fracture in his back in January. The teenager returned to action in pre-season, but suffered a new stress fracture and had to undergo surgery.
"Jack Lankester has a back problem and that's probably going to take from now until the end of the season that," revealed Henry.
Teddy Bishop, who has had a torrid time with injuries over the last few years, suffered a knee injury during the pre-season tour of Germany. That injury was said to have a three month time frame for recovery.
"Bishop is doing well," said Henry. "He had a medial strain. He's been doing some strength work, he's started to do some aerobic work today, so again we're talking about a number of weeks before he's out on the grass."
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Asked if Town's bad injury record in recent years was bad luck or something that needed to be looked at, Henry replied: "It's definitely something that happens at other football clubs, that's for sure. Portsmouth have had six cruciate injuries in the last two or three years. I think Tranmere, when we played them, had 10 out.
"If you look at the top football clubs they all have injuries. Manchester United is a really good example - they've had 75 injuries over the last year. They've got the best facilities in the world and they're still struggling.
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"I think we've done really well with injuries.
"(Physio) Matt (Byard) has probably been a little bit under-resourced over the last few seasons, but we're starting to get on top of that now.
"We're starting to send our players to Ireland for assessment. Matt's over in Doha right now with Kane Vincent-Young (groin injury) seeing a specialist.
"The club is spending a lot of money on preventing and treating injuries and I think it's only a matter of time before that makes a difference."
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