Beattie eyes 'miracle' return

Beattie: Quick return

James Beattie says he will not face a frustrating spell on the sidelines after receiving a miraculous sugar injection.

The Stoke striker fell awkwardly during the Potters' clash with Birmingham on Saturday and was later told he had torn ligaments in his knee.

An injury lay-off of up to six weeks seemed inevitable after such an injury but the 31-year-old was given the injection and now is expected to return to training within days.

He could even be in contention for an appearance in Saturday's meeting with Sunderland, just one week after sustaining the damage.

"It's a grade two medial ligament tear and that should be four to six weeks to repair, but I've had a sugar injection, which is supposed to be a miracle worker," Beattie told The Sentinel.

Swollen

"The knee is swollen at the moment because of the injection, but that's OK. The injection inflames the knee to attract red blood cells to help the repair because the ligament doesn't have a blood supply.

"It quickens the healing process from weeks to days. It's now just a case of getting the swelling down in the next day or so and then seeing whether there is still any give in the knee."

Beattie has seen first hand how effective the treatment is after team-mate Dave Kitson sustained a similar injury last season.

He added: "Kits said he had his leg in brace for five weeks last year and when they took the brace off, his knee was still giving. He then had one of these injections, the knee stiffened up for a bit and then he was OK after 48 hours.

"The specialist who saw me also told me about rugby players with grade three ruptures of the ligament who'd normally be out for six months, but are back playing again in three weeks after these injections.

"When the injury first happened on Saturday I was worried because I tried to play on and the knee was just flapping about. But now I don't envisage being out for a long time and I haven't given up on Saturday yet."