When Victor Cruz went down injured last season, New York Giants fans feared the worst. And what transpired certainly surpassed those initial fears.
Cruz was forced out of the rest of the 2014 NFL season due to a torn patellar tendon, but slowly and surely since that day the diminutive wideout has been working his way back to fitness.
Such injuries as the one Cruz suffered last season can be brutal, and even end players’ careers. Speaking about his recovery on Friday, Cruz knows fully well how serious his injury was, and he explained that in no way is he going to rush the healing process.
Getting better
“I’ve started to do some things and I’m starting to feel my knee getting better and responding better, but I understand there’s a long way to go and a process and I don’t want to rush anything,” Cruz explained, according to ProFootballTalk.
At this stage, Cruz admits the most difficult thing for him right now is trying to build the muscle back up in his knee.
“It’s not easy to come back from something like this and to work every day. I guess I’m in the parts right now when it’s more [physical]. Physically getting it stronger, getting the muscle back,” Cruz continued.
“Literally when you have surgery on your knee, the muscles atrophy and [they] just go [away]. So physically is definitely the hardest part right now."
Mental problems
Cruz added that the mental negative affect of serious injuries can almost play as big a part as the physical problems associated with injuries, but that those mental issues come at the start and the end of the recovery process.
“I think the mental aspect was early and then it’ll be late. ‘Early’ meaning when it first happened, thinking you probably won’t be able to even run again; and ‘late’ when you are able to run and jump and mentally being able to connect to your knee, saying that you can do all these things and not being afraid to do it. I think that’s both sides of it.”
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