The image that everyone expected: Alexia Putellas has already started running

Alexia Putellas is the pure example of tenacity and sacrifice, working tirelessly on her recovery after the rupture of cruciate ligaments suffered in the summer.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
08 November 2022 Tuesday 04:41
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The image that everyone expected: Alexia Putellas has already started running

Alexia Putellas is the pure example of tenacity and sacrifice, working tirelessly on her recovery after the rupture of cruciate ligaments suffered in the summer. The captain of Barcelona has shared this Monday through her social networks the image that all Barça fans expected to see: the Ballon d'Or has already begun to run.

Uploaded to an antigravity belt in which there are no impacts on her joint, the one from Mollet del Vallès has shared a video in which she can be seen exercising at the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper in which she ends up making the gesture of victory to camera. A video that she has shared on her Instagram along with the message "First time alter surgery" (first time after surgery).

The treadmill used by Alexia, which is surrounded by a pressure chamber to reduce gravity, and thus her weight when running, is a system originally used by NASA to readapt the muscle tone of astronauts returning from space with a muscular atrophy caused by its exposure to the lack of gravity. At present, its use by professional athletes such as Rafa Nadal is common, and it is a technique also used in large soccer clubs or the NBA.

The two-time Ballon d'Or winner suffered the worst injury for a footballer, the rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament in her left leg, on July 5, a few days before Spain's debut in the European Championship. Despite her hard blow, the also captain of the Spanish team stayed in England to witness the debut of her team in the tournament and give encouragement to a sunken locker room after the hard news.

The midfielder then returned to Spain and underwent a successful operation on July 12 at the Barcelona Hospital. Since that day, the Barça player's mind has been focused on his recovery and today, almost four months after his operation, he has taken another important step towards the goal by getting on the treadmill.

Cruciate ligament injuries in women have longer recovery times, around 10 or 12 months, depending on each case. For example, Bruna Vilamala, who suffered the same injury on October 25 last year, has not yet been discharged, although Giráldez hopes to be able to count on her before the end of November. The age, the characteristics of the injury, the consequences of the surgical intervention... there are many variables that affect the final recovery time.

It is an injury that has a much higher incidence in the case of women, due to a series of physiological and hormonal factors, and with a much higher relapse rate for this same reason. For this reason, club medical services tend to be very conservative with recovery times. In the Barcelona infirmary, in addition to Alexia and Bruna Vilamala, Jana Fernàndez and Cata Coll are also recovering from this same injury.

Coinciding with this big step in her recovery process, Alexia Putellas receives this afternoon the Golden Player Women awarded by the Italian magazine Tuttosport. An award that had already been announced and that the soccer player will not receive in person since, as we see in these images, she is in Barcelona working on her recovery. The azulgrana will make a virtual connection with the gala to thank this new award that will add to the showcases of the renowned player.