Injuries in darts, player fitness, knowing when to rest and when Simon Whitlock averaged 105 with a broken ankle

Price down but not out

There is a lack of clarity over the cause of Gerwyn Price’s hand injury but whether it’s down to boxing training or not – does it really matter?

The most important thing is that his hand fully recovers as quickly as possible so he can fulfil his commitments in the Premier League and get back to winning titles.

However, enforced rest is probably not too much of a bad thing at this stage of the season because the matches are coming thick and fast – both in the new PL format and the Pro Tour – and these top players might well hit a wall in the coming weeks.

Thankfully, the way he played against Michael van Gerwen in Nottingham proves the injury can’t be too worrying so it’s probably just a matter of time before we see him back to his best on a consistent basis.

Wright to bounce back

I spoke to Peter Wright at the airport a day after he pulled out of the European Tour event in Hildesheim and he was worried that the gallstone issue might be returning as well as some discomfort in his lower back.

Although the hospital subsequently told him it wasn’t too bad, I was still very surprised to see him competing in Barnsley this past weekend instead of resting up. He lost both his matches so it wasn’t as if his decision paid off from a results, performance or prize money perspective.

In times like this you have to be creative with your scheduling and it was a mistake for him to go and play. His world number one spot was never at risk so why try and guard it like it’s the end of the world?

He is a darts addict in a good way, but my primary concern for Peter is his health, his happiness and well-being.

Aspinall must learn from Jelle’s woes

A much more serious injury at the moment is Nathan Aspinall’s wrist which is apparently down to a hole in his tendon.

He has played well recently which kind of masks over the problem but every so often there’s a dart he doesn’t commit to and that frightens me. Just one dart delivered poorly with a snap could cause irreparable damage.

We can’t afford to lose such an exciting, exuberant player like him from the game but if he doesn’t get it fixed properly then his career will be short.

Just look at what happened to Jelle Klaasen when he was last in the Premier League back in 2017. He had tendonitis in his wrist and it was getting more damaged by the week.

He lost eight of his nine games and drew the other against Kim Huybrechts, who also had injury problems at the time, but didn’t want to have an operation until the campaign was over.

Jelle was on the surgeons table a few days after his relegation on Judgement Night and his action subsequently had to change. Sadly, he’s never been the same player since and is now without a Tour Card.

If Nathan continues to play through discomfort and puts surgery on the backburner then something similar could happen to him.

If he takes action now then obviously he’d be unable to earn and defend prize money during his recovery but it’s better to do that at this stage of the season than in the winter months with all those majors. More importantly, it would help safeguard the longevity of his career.

Darting fragilities

Speaking as someone who has endured a fair share of injuries down the years, it obviously doesn’t take a serious one to affect a dart player’s game considerably.

In other more physical sports, we’ll see injuries like broken limbs and muscle tears that can wipe out an athlete’s season but in darts it could be something very trivial and intricate such as a bruised or cut finger on their throwing hand.

It might not stop them entering an event but when you consider the fine margins in darts, these small injuries could have massive effects on form and prove very costly until they’re heeled.

There’s so much money in the game now that some players will want to wrap themselves up in cotton wool ahead of the big tournaments to prevent any silly injuries that might ruin their preparations – they might even stop participating in certain hobbies.

I used to like ice skating when I was younger but as soon as I turned professional I stopped it in case I fell over and injured myself seriously.

Dart players are effectively self-employed. They’re not footballers who get wages to play their sport – they won’t get paid unless they win matches.

Hands on

Let’s not forget there are plenty of dart players who hold down other jobs to earn a living and many of those will be very physical.

Take Alan Soutar for example who is a firefighter. Imagine the injuries he could possibly pick up that would stop him becoming a better player?!

There’s still so many builders, plasterers and other tradesman on the circuit but the fact you hardly hear of any of them missing tournaments is to their credit.

Even someone like Rob Cross, who used to be an electrician, has it in his DNA to be very hands on. When he got himself a bigger house on the south coast he bought a digger to use in the garden! But to see any darts player behind the wheel of a JCB wouldn’t be that unusual.

We’re talking about salt of the earth people who want to get their hands dirty but at the same time they need to keep their hands clean to play great darts.

It only takes one tiny thing to go wrong with your hand or arm and that’s it – but thankfully we’ve yet to have a player’s darting career completely ruined by an accident during their day job.

Fitness first

Some professional darts players without other jobs think that all they have to do is practice darts.

Well here’s the thing – the mentality is changing. Just look at someone like Danny Noppert who takes his health and fitness really seriously and how it affects his mental strength. He’s now a UK Open champion and I’m convinced he’ll be around for many years to come because of how he looks after himself.

The lifestyle and travelling of a professional sportsperson can really take its toll and it’s no different in darts. When you’re at home or on the road, if you make smarter decisions, your career will be longer and you’ll experience marginal gains on your rivals.

What goes around…

A famously bizarre injury that springs to mind in the world of darts is Simon Whitlock’s ankle.

He went into a first-round match at the 2011 World Championship with Dennis Smith and the bookies weren’t taking bets on him because of how he hobbled to the stage and could hardly walk up the stairs.

A few weeks earlier, Adam Smith-Neale had jumped on his back in a playful way and Simon’s ankle rolled over and broke, causing him to pull out of various events and commitments.

The next tournament he played was the World Championship and everyone was lumping on Dennis but Simon averaged around 105 and demolished him!

However, this injury plagued him for seasons and he had to wear trainers to keep himself as comfortable as possible.

I honestly thought it would ruin his career but thankfully it didn’t.

Strangely enough, many years later at the 2019 BDO World Championship, Smith-Neale walked to the stage in crutches and many players felt it was karma!

To his credit, the fact he went through all that shows you how much he wanted to make his Lakeside debut and you have to admire that.

Alan Warriner-Little once had a neck injury ahead of a World Championship semi-final back in the 1990s and Sky Sports showed footage of him getting a shiatsu massage before going up on stage.

It was one of the strangest bits of TV I’ve seen!

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