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2,500-pound machine strapped around Flintoof's knee to save his cricket career | England all rounderAndrew Flintoff is praying that the 2,500 pound machine strapped around his knee will save his cricket career. The Lancashire all-rounder has to strap himself to the contraption for eight hours every day as he starts his gruelling rehabilitation
from his latest operation. The state-of-the-art Continuous Passive Motion equipment
was prescribed by surgeon Andy Williams and is designed to bend the 31-year-old
Ashes hero's knee up to 1,500 times a day, News of the World reported. "I had
a choice of either using this machine or doing three sets of 500 knee bends a
day, so I thought the machine might be the way forward. I strap my leg into it
for eight hours a day. It bends my knee up and down all the time and makes sure
the movement is controlled," Flintoff revealed. "I will have the machine on most
of the time, even when I'm sleeping. The hard part is getting used to having your
leg strapped into a machine for most of the day. It's designed to help with the
healing but, inevitably, my right leg is going to waste away a bit and the muscles
are going to disappear. There's not a lot I can do about it because I can't bear
any weight on my right leg for six to eight weeks." Flintoff underwent keyhole
surgery in London on Monday night - just a day after helping England beat Australia
at the Oval to regain the Ashes. It was the second op on his troublesome knee
and the ninth of his career, following four on his left ankle, two for hernias
and another on his back. Flintoff announced his retirement from Test cricket during
the Ashes after admitting his 16-stone body could no longer cope with five-day
cricket. "I have set myself a target of returning for the tour to Bangladesh,
which is from mid-Febuary to the middle of March, but whether that's realistic
or not, I'm not sure," admitted Flintoff. "There is a possibility I may not play
again. It's something I'm going to have to be prepared for in case the operation
is not as successful as I hope. There will be a question mark in my mind about
whether I have played my last game until I know how the operation has turned out.
"I'd be lying if I said it hadn't crossed my mind, but the success rate for an
operation like this is pretty good," the paper quoted him, as saying.
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