Newcastle United star Jonjo Shelvey reveals he needs frequent shockwave therapy

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Newcastle United midfielder Jonjo Shelvey has admitted to having ‘painful’ shockwave therapy twice a day in order to keep his fitness up.

The 27-year-old, who hit a stunning equaliser against Manchester City at the weekend, has explained he still has ‘lumps’ in his leg despite being back in the picture for the Magpies.

The fragile star has been dogged by a thigh issue since last season, which forced him to play on pain-killing injections.

The problem saw him head to Barcelona for treatment, and his tough battle for fitness saw him fall behind the likes of Isaac Hayden and Sean Longstaff in the pecking order.

Back in the starting XI now, Shelvey said (Chronicle): “I’ve still got the lumps in my leg but while it’s still fine, I’m going to keep training and keep playing.

“I think it’s used to treat kidney stones or something like that. It’s like a gun that goes onto your leg. It’s painful when being done. You have to just grin and bear it, I suppose.”

TBR’s view – Shelvey key to Newcastle survival hopes

Newcastle will hope such treatment will be enough to maintain Shelvey’s fitness throughout the season.

They did cope without him for large parts last term, but in recent weeks Shelvey has reminded people how talented a player he really is.

Nobody else in the Newcastle squad can do what he does.

He has superb vision, and is clearly effective at shooting from distance. Newcastle are struggling for goals and Shelvey is a means of improving productivity in the final third.