Jay ‘Bottle’ Thompson is currently sitting at number 14 on the one-world rankings. After a couple of solid performances at the beginning of the year, Bott’s found himself battling a potential career-ending knee injury. After shopping around for the best treatment, Bottle has set up shop in the State’s with a team of specialists to get him back on the mend and back on tour. I caught up with him to chat about his rehab.
Tell us what you actually did to yourself?
I was at the ‘QS in Newcastle and had this little niggling knee injury there and I went and saw a doctor there and he diagnosed me with long-term tendinitis in the knee. I got a bunch of different opinions from three or four specialists in Australia, and then I thought I’d speak with Dr. Kramer in the States who’s treated some of the best athletes in the world. Mick Fanning, Travis Logie, John John Florence, Fred Pattaccia and a few others have all been to him and he’s basically one of the best hip and knee surgeons in the world.
He told me to fly over and that he’d put me on a good rehab program and see what we could come up with. So I’ve been staying with him for the past three weeks and working on my knee – getting injections done – it’s pretty crazy actually, it’s called PRP and it’s where they actually spin your own blood and they reinject your platelets back into you. It’s so painful though, it’s the most painful thing I’ve been through in my life. I got the first one in Newcastle after I was diagnosed and I did it without a local anaesthetic, I had my girlfriend beside me and I was just screaming, it was torture, it felt like someone was holding a blowtorch to my tendon. If you can picture your big brother punching you in the arm about a thousand times, that’s what it feels like afterwards. I’m also working a physio that John John’s been going to here and I’ve been seeing some great results.
So you struggled through the Aussie leg of the ‘QS?
Yeah, well it happened while I was in Newcastle and I was just in agony while I was there. I was actually in between heats when I bolted to see the Newcastle Knights doctor and straight away he took me down to get some MRI’s and x-rays done, and it wasn’t the best news. Then I kind of just persevered with it because there weren’t too many events on the calendar at the time. I thought, ‘Stuff it’ and went to Magaret River and got a 5th after losing to Dusty [Payne] in the quarters.
I think I only surfed once or twice outside of my heats in Margaret River and haven’t surfed since. It’s been nearly a month, but I’m looking to get back into the water in the next day or two. It’s all good though, I’ve been doing this for 15 years, so it doesn’t take long to have to put the training wheels back on again.
Was part of your rehab to stay out of the water?
Yeah well basically when I got the treatment, the pain was that bad and my knee swelled up that much that I couldn’t bend my leg for about 10 days. After two weeks I was only just able to hobble around and do the odd situp here and there. To keep up my cardio, I’ve been spending time in the pool everyday and sprinting some laps to try and at least keep some paddle fitness.
Are you looking forward to getting back in the water?
Yeah, I think I’m going to aim to tomorrow. I went 10 pin bowling tonight and that’s about as much action that my knee has taken lately and it’s a bit sore now, but I was looking at giving it a little whirl in the morning, maybe on a SUP or something.
Is this sort of treatment expensive?
Yeah it is, the good thing is for me is that we have insurance through the ASP. They cover you if you get injured, so I was fortunate enough to being able to make a claim, but if you didn’t have insurance it would be an expensive little venture. I’ve had to pay for all my own flights, rental car accommodation and all that kind of stuff over here to get the best treatment possible. It’s an investment in my health and it’s a long-term investment. I don’t want to get down the track another 10 years and be that debilitated that I can’t surf at all. I think it’s really important to keep your body fit and healthy.
What sort of goals have you set yourself for the rest of 2013?
I took a year off competing when I fell off tour and was working with Reef in America. I actually put it to them that I wanted to get back on tour last year. I started out pretty well, but then I broke my foot, which really sucked. Bede [Durbidge] towed me into a big closeout at Kirra one day, thanks Bede! [Laughs]. That took me out of a few Prime events and it put me out of the running.
This year I said to myself that I wanted to give it one more, good, honest last crack and back myself, so that’s my goal – to get back on tour. There are some things that I didn’t really get to achieve the first time around and I feel like I’m a lot more mature now in my competitive state of mind. I feel good.
