Gunners dynamic left back Kieran Tierney has been through his share of injuries during his professional career, with labels of “injury prone” being thrown around after the player’s recent struggles with a calf/thigh injury and knee injury that kept him out multiple weeks.
However, there’s significantly more nuance to being “injury prone” than simply picking up injuries. It’s not as simple as looking at the injury record on TransfrMarket.
Rather, we have to dig deeper under the surface at the types of injuries and underlying factors to make an accurate assessment. Let us begin with Tierney’s seemingly plethora of injuries while at Celtic.
KT’s hip injury history at Celtic
When looking at Kieran’s injury record, the first thing that jumps out are multiple hip and pubic related injuries (Cals sclerosis is related to the adductor/groin where they attach to the front of the pubic bone). It may look like he’s constantly picking up injuries but each of these injuries are actually related to the same adductor/groin issue.
Rather than immediately address the adductor and groin issues he was having, Tierney played through with a heavy minutes burden compounded by playing at a very high intensity and managed the injury throughout the 2018/19 season. He addressed the issue with surgery and rehabbed the summer prior to transferring to Arsenal.
Contact injuries
Since coming to Arsenal, Kieran’s two major injuries – a shoulder dislocation and knee ligament damage (most likely the posterloteral corner based on mechanism) – have been contact related. Further, his ankle ligament injury at Celtic was also contact related from my understanding.
Contact is a part of the game and Tierney plays the game at a very competitive and high intensity level so he’s going to take more of it, especially when multiplied by the amount of minutes he typically plays. There’s not that much you can do about these.
Soft tissue injuries
Tierney has missed time with three soft tissue injuries (he dealt with a combination of calf and lower thigh muscular issues in early January of this year which are unlisted on the table above) but considering his workload, intensity of play, and responsibility – constantly bombing forward down the left flank and making recovery sprint runs – you’re going to expect some muscular injuries. His soft tissue injuries fall very well within normal variance, in fact they’re probably quite low considering the combination of factors I mentioned.
Lastly, Tierney at the age of 23 is still developing physically and coming into his physical prime. You expect some muscular injuries and niggles as the player continues to move towards that peak.
The Upshot
Looking at each of these factors on balance, I don’t consider Kieran to be injury prone. Would it serve him well to perhaps pull out of some higher risk duels? Absolutely. Do the club need to address his heavy burden of minutes and get some reliable cover at LB? Most definitely.
If you prefer a video version, you can find that Arsenal analysis here.
Fin. COYG.
Dr Rajpal Brar, DPT, (@3cbperformance) is a physiotherapist, movement expert, fitness trainer, sports scientist and mindfulness coach. He runs the LA and online based wellness and athletic performance clinic 3CB Performance, is an avid Gooner since 1995, and you can subscribe to his Youtube channel (which posts a variety of Gunners related content).