Obomate is lucky to play football again, Team doctor confesses

By Taofeek Babalola

Rivers United Team doctor, Chukwuemeka Agi has revealed that Obomate Frederick is lucky to still be a professional footballer after recovery from an injury that kept him out of competitive football for five months.

After making a complete recovery, Obomate made his first appearance of the season for United in the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) tie on Sunday, coming on as a second half substitute as the Pride of Rivers defeated Enugu Rangers to the sword, 1-0 in Port Harcourt.

“Obomate Frederick complained about pain in his leg and when we investigated and examined me, we realized it might have been as a result of overuse. So we asked him to run some investigations which he did and what it revealed was that one of the leg bones had an incomplete fracture/break which we refer to as a stress fracture in medical terms. 

"It is something that occurs from overuse so he was referred to an orthopaedic surgeon, Dr Bob Yellowe who also examined him and asked for a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) test. With those in place, he was able to treat him, giving both drugs and putting him on Plaster of Paris (POP) to ensure that the leg was well-rested.  

"He subsequently improved. This injury occurred between late October and early December, 2016. He was on POP for close to two months before rehabilitation commenced. Some players never return from such kinds of injuries because the incomplete fracture becomes complete because of overuse. However, in his (Obomate’s) own case, it healed properly and completely. 

"I must commend the sponsor of the team, the Rivers State Government via the Sports Ministry for consistently making the welfare of players, health inclusive, top priority by responding to our call in this case. Obomate is now out of the woods and is now able to assist the team,” Dr Agi concluded.