The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Milne opens up on his injury frustration as Montrose man returns
Lewis Milne is enjoying life back in the Montrose team after coming back from an injury he initially thought would see him sidelined for a week.
While the 27-year-old is looking forward to his third appearance since his return this weekend, he reveals it’s not an injury he has fully recovered from – and maybe never will.
Milne was diagnosed with plantar fasciitis, the inflammation of tissue in the heel, after landing heavily in the 0-0 draw with Cove in November.
He missed the next game due to Covid and returned to face Falkirk. But it was only then that he realised something wasn’t right.
The midfielder attempted to play through the pain for the Scottish Cup tie with Kelty, but had to come off in the first half.
“In the cup against Kelty there was quite a lot of hype around it. I was just going to play through it,” he said.
“I did the warm-up before the game but I was in pain. I thought I’d take some painkillers and I’d be fine.
“After 40 minutes I came off and wasn’t sure what it was to start with.
“A couple of weeks down the line, it turned out to be plantar fasciitis.”
The former Raith and Forfar midfielder admits to frustrations with his injury, not least because he knew little about the condition.
He still feels the pain today, but Milne accepts it’s now a case of managing it day to day.
“It’s one of those injuries where I picked it up but didn’t know much about it,” he said.
“I thought I’d have just been out a week or two with a bit of rest.
“Normally with an injury you have a timescale to work with when you can get back running. But this is basically managing it and seeing how you feel.
“Even now, I still feel it a little but I’m managing it a lot better and it’s nowhere near as bad as it was. One day I’ll wake up and go about day-to-day life and think ‘I’ve not felt my heel today’.”
But resting your heel isn’t easy when you have a day job involving a lot of heavy lifting.
Milne works for a firm that builds garden outhouses and they’ve seen a surge in interest since the pandemic.
Time off over Christmas allowed him muchneeded rest and he has gone from strength to strength.
“The club and Scott the physio were brilliant with me,” he said.
“Scott read up a lot about it and made sure I was getting the right treatment and even the club got me a couple of things I could use at home to speed up the process.
“I’ve just had to be patient and do the right thing.
“Hopefully I’ll get back to a full 90 minutes in a few weeks and back to playing my best football.”