By Ben Dinnery

29th Sep, 2022 | 8:55am

Medical insider: Newcastle United star Chris Wood in agony as gruesome 'rib separation' revealed

Newcastle United star Chris Wood will be in agony after he suffered a likely “rib separation” injury on international duty with New Zealand.

That is the view of medical expert Ben Dinnery, who runs the Premier Injuries site and has a background in injury and data analysis.

Wood, 30, played just over 30 minutes in the Kiwis’ eventual 2-0 defeat to Australia last Sunday (25 September) before he was forced off with a rib injury.

As quoted by the Sheilds Gazette the following day, the centre-forward explained “something popped in my rib, and it hurt to run and breathe.”

He is the third Newcastle player to suffer a setback during the break after star pair Alexander Isak (lower leg) and Bruno Guimaraes (thigh).

Dinnery revealed that Wood could spend several weeks in the treatment room as he recovers from his gruesome injury.

“Typically, people will think it’s a rib fracture,” he told Football Insider’s Adam Williams.

“But we could actually be talking about rib separation. That fits more with blunt force trauma, which we know he suggested he had got from a challenge.

“That basically means his rib has been separated from his cartilage and sternum. Sometimes, when you have that impact, you can hear that pop.

“This can be very intense, localised pain, especially when breathing hard. All this fits with how Wood described the injury and the effects after that challenge.

“You hope it’s on the less severe end of the scale. These sorts of injuries do respond well to conservative treatment but we could still be talking about several weeks out.

“Unfortunately, everyone has to breathe. That can make it difficult to maintain your fitness because you aren’t able to aerobically push yourself.”

In other news, Newcastle United told to seal deal for Jonjo Shelvey “upgrade” after report.