Lampard speaks of injury woe

Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard has revealed he may never fully recover from the injury that has seen him miss the majority of the season.

The England international has been battling a hernia and groin problem since August, only returning to the pitch in December for the struggling Blues, who have slipped to fifth on the English Premier League table.

The 32-year-old said that the problem continues to cause him discomfort, and will have to be closely monitored for the remainder of his career.

“I will try to keep that leg strong because I have a weakness there. My tendon came off the bone and it doesn’t go back, you just have to stay very strong in the area,” Lampard told the club’s official website.

“I know other players who have had the same problem; they know the frustrations of it, the aftermath and what you have to do, which has helped.”

“It’s not a problem you just have to do an extra two or three sessions in the gym every week to keep it strong.”

“It was a bad injury and I still feel it occasionally.”

Lampard said his eagerness to return to action for manager Carlo Ancelotti added time to his layoff, as he pushed to get fit prior to Christmas.

“It was a bad injury. I was expecting it to be a few weeks and then I went to see someone who told me it was a three-month injury,” he said.

“It wasn’t misdiagnosed, it was more my fault because I try and push. With hindsight I would have done a lot more resting when I first did the injury but I was trying to push to be fit for games when really I just had to wait for my body to naturally heal.”