The bizarre world of Sean Raggett's injuries and why the Portsmouth defender is adamant he's not injury prone

The defender has outlined how he’s been impacted by a series of issues which have left him sidelined over the past year after an injury-free football career.

Those problems began in January last year when Raggett had a tooth knocked out against while with Rotherham in the Championship, after being elbowed by Ipswich man Luke Chambers.

In the following game at Leeds the 26-year-old then caught his foot in the turf at Elland Road - leading to two major ligament injuries and a broken ankle.

That put paid to the Norwich loanee’s season before he moved to Fratton Park in the summer.

But the problems continued as another freak injury occurred when the former Dover man gashed his elbow after it was caught by a stud, causing him to miss the start to the season.

There was still time, though, for Raggett to then pick up the first muscle injury of his career against Harrogate in the FA Cup last month.

Despite the list, the no-nonsense man pointed to the fact he’s had a clean bill of health through his career as evidence he’s not prone to injury.

Raggett said: 'It’s weird because the one last season was the first injury I’ve ever had.

‘My first one was probably my worst when I ruptured my ATFL ligament, across the top of my ankle, broke the inside of my ankle and tore a ligament on the inside of my knee.

'That was all in one go when my foot got caught in the pitch and I went over on it with Rotherham at the start of last season.

'I came back from that, played three games and then broke the same ankle from the original injury. So that was the rest of the season.

'I then came here and had that weird elbow injury in pre-season, which was the strangest thing which has ever happened to me.

'It was really weird. I went in for a tackle and someone managed to slice my elbow with their studs.

'I literally couldn’t bend my arm. I was training but my arm was strapped up so it was straight when I was running!

'Then I fell on it in training and it was agony, so I missed the start of the season with that.

'I couldn’t run with one arm straight. It was a real odd one.

'Then there was the Harrogate game where I tore my groin.

'I was 24 before my first one, though, and probably had played 300 games, so I’d gone a long time without getting an injury.’

After making his return from the adductor problem picked up amid the delays at Harrogate, Raggett feels he’s now in a position to put a run of games together.

It’s three starts on the bounce for him as he contributed to the wins and clean sheets collected against high-flying pair Ipswich and Wycombe.

And the man who is contracted until the summer with the Canaries, sees no reason why a concerted run of appearances can’t be put together.

Raggett added: 'I had the two injuries last season which were unavoidable.

'Then the first muscle injury I ever had had was at Harrogate.

'When you’re out for such a long time you can come back and get these niggles.

'It’s because you’re not used to the intensity.

'When you look at players coming back from long injuries these muscle injuries come up where you miss a couple of weeks. I put it down to that.

'I picked up some momentum before the Harrogate match because I’d played a few games. Now I want to get back to that.

'I don’t feel rusty. I feel fit, in good shape and that my injuries are behind me.'