Spurs’ Academy prospect Japhet Tanganga has been announced as suffering from a stress fracture in his lower back, which to the layperson sounds relatively horrific. One imagines that anything to do with the spine to be the sort of injury that can prove to problematic, as anyone who has suffered from ‘back-trouble’ is likely to tell you.
However, subject to Japhet’s condition being further diagnosed as something more sinister, in all likelihood, the boy is suffering from spondylolysis, which is commonly treatable. This ailment is all about the body core, and in when one factors in that the 21-year-old has been playing football competitively since he was 10-years-old, whilst his body was still growing, it’s neither a shock nor reason for immediate concerns.
Hypertension (if it is this) in his lower back might also result in part from poor posture, but given Japhet’s profession, the key task will be getting his core up to full strength.
Tanganga strikes me as sensible lad and unlikely to ‘do a Lamela”.
