Healing limbs and minds – it’s all part of the job for Wolves' medical and sports science departments

The departments on physical performance and sports science are lead by Tom Farrow and under him is a specialist team that looks after elite athletes in an intense environment.

In the latest of a series of Express & Star interviews, we sat down with first team physiotherapist Rui Fuste and strength and conditioning coach Sean Miller for an insight into their unenviable duty.

Their roles may be different but in many ways they overlap – something they call the 'grey area'. The first step in an injury is with the medical professionals, where Fuste would come into his own, before Miller and his colleagues take over to help get a player back into training and playing.

The team look after the players daily on anything from small niggles and complaints to long-term injuries.

"I've been with Wolves for five years and it used to be a small team but it's grown a lot. We can have more dedicated care now," Fuste said.

"We deal with the day-to-day things, preparing for the next game and recovering. Our recovery strategy is to make sure those with small injuries, that don't prevent them from playing, can play and perform at 100 per cent.

"Then you have the other guys with injuries and it depends. If we have injuries we have to focus on both, if not we focus on the players that are playing, so it can be busier at certain times.

"If we have a few guys injured we try to split it between the physios, to try and get that balance. You always have a player who will prefer to see a colleague, or some days they prefer to see me. So the players have that preference too, depending on how they feel.

"That's the good thing of having different skills in the team. That's the teamwork and we try to deliver the best."

Miller added: "I mostly look after rehab. I do warm-ups with the squad, which focus on speed and agility.

"We have a big team that supports the management staff and work closely with Alex (Silva). We feed it into him and he'll be the messenger to the manager.

"Pre-season is about training, getting in as many as we can, while making sure the players are available and we're doing it the right way and not making mistakes or rushing anything. We make sure the players are in the best way to train."

But it can be a thankless task. If a player suffers a freak injury or a recurrence of an issue they have previously suffered from, supporters turn on the medical staff.

However, there is only so much that can be done for certain injuries and different scenarios in football and the medical professionals do their best to block out the outside noise.

"We break it down into two, contact and non-contact," Miller said.

"We try to avoid the non-contact, soft tissue injuries. They're the ones we need to be on top of.

"The case with some players is that they'll have a previous history of being susceptible to certain injuries. You can do as much as you can and sometimes it just happens.

"If someone gets injured we all reflect on what's happened and nit-pick through our process to make sure we've done what we can."

The battle could also be internal, too, if Bruno Lage wants a player back quicker or the player himself is desperate to get back on the field.

What has shone through at Wolves is the communication and team decision making – which also comes down to a player's return from injury.

Fuste said: "It's always a discussion. You need data and show the manager and player where they are and whether we think they're available or not.

"Sometimes it's the player that pushes back, sometimes the manager says 'no, I don't think he's performing yet in training sessions and he needs more time'. It's a team decision between everyone.

"It's an informed decision, because we need to give that information to the player too. If he decides he is fit to play and the manager wants him to play, that's a different question, but at least you has all the information he needs."

Miller added: "You always have players that want to play and don't want to be sat inside in the gym.

"That comes down to your relationship with the player. From the start we say how long it's expected to take.

"Sometimes it is the case where they feel ready but we feel they're not ready, but it ultimately comes down to your relationship and those honest chats."

On the other side of it, when a player returns quicker than expected from an injury, it offers a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment.

At the beginning of pre-season Max Kilman made a swift return from an ankle injury – one of many examples that is largely overlooked by critics.

Fuste said: "We are in a performance environment and we're competitive too. I'm always challenging myself because we want the players out there and performing.

"Sometimes we need to put everything outside and focus on the task, the player and try to do our best.

"If anything happens that we don't expect, of course we are disappointed. Due to the relationship we have with them, if a player gets an injury, no-one is happy.

"In the same way, when a player comes back earlier or does really well, then we enjoy it with him."

Their close relationships with the players is also evident. The club has a psychologist in Dr Kate Ludlam, but Fuste and Miller find themselves helping in that area due to the endless hours they spend with players.

Miller said: "We have Kate the psychologist, and that's her speciality, but if we have an injured player who we have a good relationship with, we'll spend a lot of time with them.

"You get to know that person really well and they get to know you. You're there to support them, chat to them and talk things through."

Fuste added: "You establish a trust and a relationship, so we end up helping them in that field too.

"We're obviously not psychologists and we ask Kate for support, she can give us strategies to help. Not every player wants to speak to the psychologist as it's a process that takes time, but they are open to hear us because we spend a lot of time with them.

"Sometimes the players help us too because they know us so well."

Keeping a player engaged is essential, particularly when they've suffered a long-term injury and will be sidelined for several months.

In an extremely serious field with major consequences, it is also important to enjoy your work and to help keep spirits up for those with long-term injuries.

"You have a laugh with the player and try to make every day different," Miller said.

"It just comes down to your relationship with that player. If you've got a big team, some people get on better with certain players. So if one player breaks down we have someone to look after him.

"We enjoy being with each other and try to make it a laugh."

Fuste added: "We try to keep them part of the team, have the other lads around so they don't feel isolated or separated. It makes it much easier."