England's Tom Curry describes his injury after resisting surgeon: 'I was in tears': Planet Rugby

Tom Curry has revealed how he faced the dreaded prospect of retirement while battling a career-threatening hip injury.

The 26-year-old Sale and England winger underwent six hours of surgery for a complex hip problem following last year's Rugby World Cup third-place match victory over Argentina.

Curry described the injury to his hip as “a car crash”, but he returned to play for Sale towards the end of last season and took part in England's summer tour of Japan and New Zealand.

When Sale's physio Navdeep Sandhu called Curry to give him the initial scan results, he was faced with the nightmare scenario of having to end his football career.

Shortly before retirement

When Curry first spoke about the ordeal of that traumatic injury, he recalled, “Nav called me and told me everything that was wrong and I was in tears.

“I had a Zoom meeting with the surgeon and he said, 'You're probably going to retire.'

“It was horrible, I was literally just crying and curling up because I couldn't really process it.

“It's like the five stages of grief. The hardest part was getting over it.”

Curry described in detail how he sustained the injury: “It was at the World Championship, it felt like it was in the last two or three weeks.”

“It was something that just wouldn't go away and I spent my gym sessions just doing stretches because I thought it was just a tight muscle.

“But there were times when it really hurt to walk. Then I went to bed, woke up and it felt a little better.

“You went through this process of stretching and activating, and once it came back, it just went away, and it never really went away.

“It got worse and I stopped training and went to breakfast the next day at a 45-degree angle.

“It felt normal to me at the time, but looking back I think, 'OK, that wasn't good.'

“And that's what I mean: Look at yourself now and think: If that were me now, I wouldn't do that, I would reduce my workload and take a deep breath.”

Tom Curry's hip had to be 'stitched back together' after suffering 'significant damage', surgeon reveals

Difficulties at the World Cup

Despite his good performance at the World Championships, the pain became increasingly severe, as Curry explained: “It hurt after 70 minutes, after 60 minutes, and then in the bronze medal final it was 55 minutes.”

“It just kept getting worse. I think we had a week or two off, then I came back to training, finished a session and thought, 'This can't be right.' Sale decided we should have an ultrasound.”

Leading hip surgeon Professor Damian Griffin performed what was described as one of Curry's most difficult operations ever at Harley Street Specialist Hospital.

What mattered was that the treatment was a success and that as Curry began his grueling rehab routine, he spoke to other players who had undergone the same procedure.

He explained: “I spoke a bit with Sean O'Brien, Mike Haley, Ollie Devoto and Sam Simmonds. I relied a lot on Sean and Mike in particular. They were great for me.”

“Sean gave me a lot of hope and said that in his last season he had played more rugby than he ever had in the last five or six years of his career and that was after he got the replacement.

“He says he's playing as an amateur now and feels like a 20-year-old. I think that's given me a lot of confidence.

“Then you see Sam Simmonds playing a lot. Mike Haley says he jumps out of bed and he's absolutely fine.

“There isn’t a lot of research (on hip injuries) and I think that’s the difficult part.

“Let's say you do your anterior cruciate ligament and you could examine thousands of rugby players. You do that and there are three or four.

“You're flying blind, but I'm so lucky to be surrounded by so many people that you can let it all out and concentrate on rehab.

“There were three options: one was to do what I did, the second was to replace him, the third was to quit and retire, but you're not going to do that.”

Family support

The support of his girlfriend Lilla Powell, his parents and his twin brother Ben helped him stay mentally healthy during the recovery process.

Curry said: “Every athlete says they go through these difficult times, but I don't think I would be sitting here if it weren't for my girlfriend.

“She was brilliant. That's the main thing. When you come here, it's probably the easy part of rehab because you have things to work on and get better at.

“When you're away and walking around, you feel it. That's everyday life. She was great at helping me in that regard.”

Sandhu's expert guidance at Sale was also crucial, as Curry explained: “We had quite a few injured guys at Sale last year, so we were a good group.

“Nav was brilliant, we think the same way. I would make a joke about retirement every now and then and he would tell me to fuck off.”

“We were on very good terms, he brought me to Loughborough, he has a brilliant eye for detail and had very high expectations of me.

“My hip meant everything to me. Having someone like Nav, it felt like it was everything to him. I know that sounds selfish. But it really helped me get through. Being able to trust him was a huge thing for me at the time.

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“The relief was when I could walk again, but the bigger relief was that I could do everyday things like walking the dog without limping.

“My parents played a key role in helping me reach the position I am in today. They took me in and I slept in their living room for two weeks while I recovered from the operation.

“I think the energy bill went up by £200 or £300 during that period because I left the heating on day and night!”

Curry is understandably very close to his brother and teammate Ben from Sale and England and adds: “He was good.

“I think it was quite inspirational to watch him play so well and to be able to get back into the England team.

“All personal things between him and me, we will just observe how he is. He doesn't have to say anything. You just see how he behaves in the club and who he is.”

“I think that's more than enough to inspire you, get you back and get you excited about getting back in the game.”

Another operation likely

Curry admits he is likely to need further surgery at some point but is fully fit ahead of Sale's Premiership opener at home to Harlequins on Sunday.

Curry said: “At some point in my life I probably will, so I can't tell you right now. We'll just have to wait and see. For me it's just a day-to-day thing, the most important thing for me is prevention.

“Obviously I’m not handicapping myself like I probably used to do in the gym and training.

“I'm not saying I don't train hard, but I train smarter, am more targeted in the gym, do prevention, train the smaller muscles around the hip so everything moves well and probably go to the gym afterward to get the most out of the workout for my legs, but that's before I go to the gym.

“So it's just little things like that that make a big difference. Yes, I will need surgery at some point, I have no idea when that will be.

“I'm 26 now, and there will be another operation before I die. I don't know when that will be, we'll just have to wait and see.

“As far as my workload this year goes, it's just about taking each day as it comes – but I'm definitely not going to change the way I play.”

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