Midfielder David Perich is resigned to missing the National Premier Leagues season after being diagnosed with osteitis pubis. A core member of Inglewood United’s starting line-up across the last four winters, Perich’s worse nightmare was realised little over a month ago with confirmation he was suffering osteitis pubis, a painful groin injury brought on by inflammation of the pelvis.
“I’ve pretty much ruled out playing this year as I’ve only recently started treatment,” commented Perich, who has made 94 appearances for Inglewood since joining the club in 2011. “It’s been pretty tough coming down to the Night Series and watching the boys as I’d had been looking forward to an injury-free year and working with (new coach) Michael Garcia.”
Perich, 27, has put up with niggling groin pain for some time but had hoped that by carefully managing the problem he’d be able to continue playing. “I played most of the past two years with some sort of groin pain,” he said. “I thought it was just a persistent injury but I now know it was most likely the early signs of osteitis pubis.”
“Towards the end of last season it was extremely bad,” he added. “I was super-cautious and diligent in the off-season about recovery and yet it wasn’t getting any better. In January I finally saw a specialist, got an MRI and had it confirmed as osteitis pubis. I was pretty devastated that first week as I thought I’d been doing all the right things for four months.”
Perich has wasted no time in dealing with the problem. “I’m on some old lady drugs, the same they give you for osteoporosis,” he said. “I had an injection into my pubis symphysis last week. Now it’s a bit of a waiting game to see what impact that injection has. It can be anything from extremely positive to having no impact at all.”
“If it goes well I’ll have to wait for the area to settle down and then start physio, stabilising exercises and posture readjustment work,” Perich continued. “If it doesn’t go well after a couple of months then the specialist has suggested I speak to a surgeon.” Everyone at Inglewood United wishes David a full and speedy recovery.
