Rio Ferdinand says back injuries suffered as a result of his football career have left him requiring a wheelchair – and regularly being hospitalised
Ferdinand, 47, enjoyed a stellar career for Manchester United and England, playing almost 600 matches for club and country before retiring in 2015.
But it seems the injuries he tried to fight off in his career by using painkilling injections and tablets are now catching up with him.
The former defender and his wife, Kate, quit Britain for Dubai last year and he has now revealed he regularly has to use a wheelchair and make visits to the hospital.
Ferdinand, who otherwise looks the pinnacle of fitness in new images published by Men’s Health UK, said: ‘I’ve had a bad back for a long time. I’ve got injuries that I had from my career… I was on tablets and injections for six years to play games.
‘That’s affected me. I get some bad moments of back pain where I have to be in a hospital for a couple of days or in a wheelchair for a couple of days. It’s mad, but it just comes out of nowhere.
‘I’ve been seeing a physio for the first time since I retired. He’s been doing loads of manipulations and whatnot and within his building there’s also my personal trainer, so he feeds him information about my training.
‘There’s a holistic approach to what I’m doing now and hopefully that’s going to put me in good stead.’
Ferdinand, who represented West Ham, Leeds, United and QPR during his distinguished career, also insisted he is now more educated and knowledgeable about his body than he was when he was playing professionally.
‘Rather than fixing when it’s broken, you actually prevent [injuries],’ he added. ‘I know my s*** now. But I’m 47 years old. It took me all that time.’
Despite the physical challenges Ferdinand is now facing, the former England defender insisted he is still determined to maintain an active lifestyle.
He explained this is in part to inspire his five children and ensure they think that having a healthy lifestyle ‘is the norm’, as well as instilling a good ‘work ethic’ in them.
Ferdinand added that his own parents were his inspiration and highlighted the importance of being physically active for his ‘mental sanity’.
He said: ‘I like work. My mum and dad worked. They were grafters. That’s all I’ve known.
‘When my kids talk about me, as much as it is, yeah, “Daddy loves me” and “Daddy’s done everything for me.” It’s “Daddy worked hard. He was a hustler.” You know what I mean?’
Speaking back in 2024, Ferdinand had opened up on the toll injuries took on his body towards the end of his career, admitting he wished he had retired at United – rather than moving to QPR for a final season to see out his career.
The defender had hoped to end his career on a high but endured a nightmare campaign in west London, making only 11 league appearances amid his fitness struggles as QPR were relegated after finishing rock bottom.
Ferdinand opened up on those physical issues – as well as hitting out at Rangers’ difficult dressing room – in an appearance on the Stick to Football podcast two years ago.
‘I used to travel in with Bobby Zamora as we were living in the same area, and I had been at QPR for about a month, and I remember one day in the car, he started laughing for no reason,’ he said.
‘When he stopped, he asked me why I was at QPR as he could see my body was shutting down, I was getting injuries, I was having to plaster myself through games and manage myself through training sessions.
‘For me, I wanted one final season, playing in London, back home, my kids were of an age where they understood football a lot more, and then my wife got ill at the time and that compounded everything.
‘I was talking to clubs abroad before I moved to QPR because that was the first thing I wanted to do, but personal circumstances changed that.’
He continued: ‘I was getting injuries before I joined QPR. But I did genuinely think that I would be fine and that I’d be able to get through it.
‘I spoke with Harry Redknapp, who was QPR manager at the time, who said that he’d manage my minutes, that I didn’t need to train every day, and just make sure I was ready for every match, and I thought that I could do that easily, but that wasn’t the case.’
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