In a recent “INSIGHT” interview with Chris Van Vliet, former WWE Champion AJ Styles opened up about a serious foot injury he sustained last October.
Styles described the injury as particularly concerning due to its nature. “Because it’s tendons,” he explained, “and my doctor, who is also my friend, was like do not look this up.” Of course, Styles couldn’t resist: “I’m like I’m gonna look this up, and it’s a career-ending injury.” He learned that such injuries are most common in severe situations: “It happens in car wrecks and in professional football mostly, that’s usually when it happens.”
The severity was a major concern. “In football, of course, it’s one of those things depending how severe it is. I was literally by the skin of my teeth able to (come back).” He was presented with a choice regarding treatment: “They were like we can have surgery, we could do surgery on your foot and it will heal faster, but there could be complications as you get older. We don’t know. We don’t have to have surgery, let’s try to do some therapy and get it back to where it is.”
Styles opted for the non-surgical route. “Lucky for me I was able to get that therapy that I needed,” he said, but emphasized the difficulty of the recovery: “Wasn’t easy. It sucked.” He described the bizarre experience of having to relearn basic movements: “It’s so crazy that you have to learn how to walk again to a certain extent, like how did I forget how to run? Little things like that.” The prolonged recovery period, which included “six weeks” in a boot and another “six weeks in therapy,” took a toll: “It’ll mess with you.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Chris Van Vliet with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
