– My biggest concern is that it will become chronic. That is the worst, says Johannes Høsflot Klæbo to news. He talks about the injury that has plagued him for around four months. When asked if he fears that this season could fail, he answers in the affirmative. But on Friday, Klæbo decided to start on Saturday. – It has been a difficult choice, but now I have decided to test tomorrow. I have opportunities to test the hamstring muscles when I first get up here, and then I choose to do it, says Johannes Høsflot Klæbo in a press release. But what is actually the problem? Tendon trouble National team doctor Ove Feragen explains that the damage is in the area where a tendon attaches the hamstring muscles in the right leg to the pelvis. – The hamstrings consist of several muscles and there is a tendon attachment in the area there. Muscles have good blood circulation and heal much faster. Tendons have little blood flow and heal more slowly when injured, says national team doctor Ove Feragen. Feragen points out that the vast majority of people recover from tendon injuries at one point or another. However, they have experience that such injuries can take time. – But it is very rare that there are chronic injuries, says Feragen. He says that most people get better within three to six months. Now around four months have passed without Klæbo being reported as healthy. Klæbo was concerned about the damage at the Ski Association’s press conference on Thursday. Photo: Terje Bendiksby / NTB – It is very difficult to say whether it will take 12 weeks, 17 weeks or if it will take even longer. It is very difficult to say when the damage occurs. We have experienced this through the fact that it is not so easy to predict the future, says Feragen. He says that Klæbo must be sure that the injury tolerates going full throttle before he gives full throttle. The worst that can happen is that the damage can be more long-lasting. Tough assessments Klæbo now has expertise, both from the Skiing Association and his American physiotherapist Megan Stowe, around him to find out what the risk is that the injury could become chronic. He wants to find out what the risk is of going a whole season with some pain compared to not going a few races this winter. – I can’t bear to sit on that chair here next year and talk about the fact that I still have pain in my hamstring. Then I have to come up with something else, says Klæbo. When news spoke to national team coach Arild Monsen on Thursday, he was quite sure that Klæbo was going to go on Saturday and Sunday. National team coach Arild Monsen and Klæbo have had few sessions together. Here from training in 2020. Photo: Ole Martin Wold / NTB He understands that Klæbo fears chronic injury. But Monsen does not see it as likely that the season could end. He himself has been forced to remotely control Klæbo this autumn since Klæbo has run his own scheme at the top. – It is a challenge. There is nothing to hide, says Monsen. Klæbo has not run sessions with the national team since August. Monsen himself has visited Trondheim twice. He says that Klæbo has driven a tough week this week to test his body. Tough sessions were run on both Monday and Thursday before Klæbo had to decide whether the season opener would go ahead without him. Considering German doctor Klæbo is now considering several possibilities for treatment abroad. This applies, among others, to the well-known German doctor Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt, the German who treated Warholm’s strain injury this summer in Munich. – In any case, we have alternatives on the table. Don’t want to go into detail about what they are, but Munich is certainly an alternative. There are more too, says Klæbo. Klæbo already brought in help from outside the apparatus for the national team when he hired the American physiotherapist Megan Stowe. National team doctor Ove Feragen Photo: Heiko Junge / NTB – Every single athlete can do it to that extent. But we always expect that we are involved and involved when other therapists become involved. It has been very tidy, says Feragen. He does not deny that Müller-Wohlfart may be relevant if Klæbo wishes to be treated there. Ove Feragen points out that the situation could be worse if the skiing star had been involved in another sport. – It would have been worse if he had been an athletics athlete and had to run. He is further away from that than skiing quite fast, says Feragen.
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Here is Johannes Høsflot Klæbo’s problem
