Metal Militia
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Q&A With Kyle Vanden Bosch on Rehab
Interviewed by Chrissy Mauck, azcardinals.com
You have said this time around you are mentally stronger? Is that just because you’ve been thru it once before and know what to expect?
The first time I didn’t handle things mentally very well. Physically I can handle the injury and the rehab, but being away from football and seeing my teammates play and not being able to help them, that was the hardest part for me the first time around. I guess I have learned to deal with that. I have learned the best way I can help the team is to be around them and try to be part of things and just do my rehab so I can get back as soon as possible so I can help them on the field too.
Do you ever get to the point where you want to just give up on the rehab or feel that it isn’t worth it?
There are definitely times when it is trying and it is difficult. One of the things about rehab, you don’t get away from it. You can’t get away from it. You have to rehab every day because you can’t get behind and if you take days off, you’ll take steps backward. At the same time, it is not hard to do it because I know that every time I am in there and every rep I take that it is going to help me down the road and make me a better player when I come back.
How was this surgery different then the last one?
This one was only ACL. My first surgery was ACL and MCL so the surgery wasn’t as major. It takes about the same time to rehab it but the rehab isn’t as difficult and things should progress a lot quicker.
Describe the surgery and the initial rehab process?
Immediately after surgery I was put in a CPM (Continuous Passive Motion) machine that kept my leg moving 23 hours a day for the first week. By the end of that first week I had my full range of motion. Once you get that out of the way, the rest of the rehab goes pretty quickly and is just based upon pain and swelling. If you don’t have pain and you don’t have swelling you can push it a little more. If you have a pain or too much swelling, then you back off a little bit. Fortunately, I haven’t had too much pain since the first week and most of the swelling is gone so things are going pretty well.
Now that you’ve returned from surgery and are back in meetings and going to practice, what do you see your role as being?
My role is to kind of pick the guys up. That was my role before. I was a guy in practice that helped picked everyone up when it seemed like it was a long practice or that the tempo wasn’t where it needed to be. When I was playing, I think I did it more by example and so now I am just trying to give guys encouragement from the sidelines or give them a pat on the back when they do good or step in and say hey, try to pick it up a little bit.
What is the hardest part of suffering a season-ending injury?
The hardest part is just seeing the teammates I went through camp with and last season with and worked out all summer with playing without me. I want to be there for them and I know the guys and the coaches were counting on me to have a big season and I was counting on myself and when you can’t be out there making plays for your team, that is a tough thing. You just feel, even though it can’t be helped, that you let a lot of people down.
When you were at home did you keep up with everything that was going on and watch the games or was that hard?
I watched all of the games and it is hard. I came back this past week so I could be at the game and that is even harder yet. It is almost easier seeing your teammates on tv because when you are actually there, you feel like you are really missing out on a lot. When you are around the guys and seeing them play, it just seems like it is mentally easier to be further away from it but at the same time, I am still a Cardinals and I still want to be part of what is going on and I want to be here for my teammates.
Are you surprised by the way the team has struggled so far this season?
Yeah, I thought we did some good things in the off-season, making some good moves and bringing in some players that would help us out. I thought we had a good camp and I thought coming out of Flag we had some momentum and I felt like after the preseason that we looked like a good team. I thought we were a team that had improved since the end of last season so I thought we would win a lot more games. We just got off to a bad start. We still have the players and the coaches have the right game plan for us to go out and win a bunch of games the rest of the season.
How important do you think the bye week is?
It is good for a player mentally to maybe take a step back for a couple of days. During the season it is football all day and you don’t ever get away from it. The off week is just a good chance for everyone to take a step back and take your mind off football for a couple of days. As far as the team goes, it will be good to get a lot of guys healthy that are kind of banged up right now.
Interviewed by Chrissy Mauck, azcardinals.com
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You have said this time around you are mentally stronger? Is that just because you’ve been thru it once before and know what to expect?
The first time I didn’t handle things mentally very well. Physically I can handle the injury and the rehab, but being away from football and seeing my teammates play and not being able to help them, that was the hardest part for me the first time around. I guess I have learned to deal with that. I have learned the best way I can help the team is to be around them and try to be part of things and just do my rehab so I can get back as soon as possible so I can help them on the field too.
Do you ever get to the point where you want to just give up on the rehab or feel that it isn’t worth it?
There are definitely times when it is trying and it is difficult. One of the things about rehab, you don’t get away from it. You can’t get away from it. You have to rehab every day because you can’t get behind and if you take days off, you’ll take steps backward. At the same time, it is not hard to do it because I know that every time I am in there and every rep I take that it is going to help me down the road and make me a better player when I come back.
How was this surgery different then the last one?
This one was only ACL. My first surgery was ACL and MCL so the surgery wasn’t as major. It takes about the same time to rehab it but the rehab isn’t as difficult and things should progress a lot quicker.
Describe the surgery and the initial rehab process?
Immediately after surgery I was put in a CPM (Continuous Passive Motion) machine that kept my leg moving 23 hours a day for the first week. By the end of that first week I had my full range of motion. Once you get that out of the way, the rest of the rehab goes pretty quickly and is just based upon pain and swelling. If you don’t have pain and you don’t have swelling you can push it a little more. If you have a pain or too much swelling, then you back off a little bit. Fortunately, I haven’t had too much pain since the first week and most of the swelling is gone so things are going pretty well.
Now that you’ve returned from surgery and are back in meetings and going to practice, what do you see your role as being?
My role is to kind of pick the guys up. That was my role before. I was a guy in practice that helped picked everyone up when it seemed like it was a long practice or that the tempo wasn’t where it needed to be. When I was playing, I think I did it more by example and so now I am just trying to give guys encouragement from the sidelines or give them a pat on the back when they do good or step in and say hey, try to pick it up a little bit.
What is the hardest part of suffering a season-ending injury?
The hardest part is just seeing the teammates I went through camp with and last season with and worked out all summer with playing without me. I want to be there for them and I know the guys and the coaches were counting on me to have a big season and I was counting on myself and when you can’t be out there making plays for your team, that is a tough thing. You just feel, even though it can’t be helped, that you let a lot of people down.
When you were at home did you keep up with everything that was going on and watch the games or was that hard?
I watched all of the games and it is hard. I came back this past week so I could be at the game and that is even harder yet. It is almost easier seeing your teammates on tv because when you are actually there, you feel like you are really missing out on a lot. When you are around the guys and seeing them play, it just seems like it is mentally easier to be further away from it but at the same time, I am still a Cardinals and I still want to be part of what is going on and I want to be here for my teammates.
Are you surprised by the way the team has struggled so far this season?
Yeah, I thought we did some good things in the off-season, making some good moves and bringing in some players that would help us out. I thought we had a good camp and I thought coming out of Flag we had some momentum and I felt like after the preseason that we looked like a good team. I thought we were a team that had improved since the end of last season so I thought we would win a lot more games. We just got off to a bad start. We still have the players and the coaches have the right game plan for us to go out and win a bunch of games the rest of the season.
How important do you think the bye week is?
It is good for a player mentally to maybe take a step back for a couple of days. During the season it is football all day and you don’t ever get away from it. The off week is just a good chance for everyone to take a step back and take your mind off football for a couple of days. As far as the team goes, it will be good to get a lot of guys healthy that are kind of banged up right now.
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