THE SAME polyester used to make Coca-Cola drinks bottles could cut Huia Edmonds' recovery from knee surgery in half.
The Gloucester hooker suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in the 32-9 Premiership defeat at Sale on Friday, April 12.
Standard ACL repair techniques involve surgeons harvesting hamstring or patella tendon, and grafting that onto the knee, to form the new ligament.
Free-running Australian front-rower Edmonds' new ligament is synthetic – made from polyethylene terephthalate, an industrial-strength polyester fibre.
The same material is used to make plastic drinks bottles for many of the world's leading soft drinks brands.
Hamstring or patella tendon needs time to settle and strengthen as it adapts to working as a ligament.
Edmonds' synthetic material does not – and Gloucester's medical department hope he could be fit to play in four months as opposed to between six and nine.
Gloucester rugby director Nigel Davies hopes the 31-year-old Wallaby can be fit by September, maybe even for the start of the season.
Davies admits the Cherry and Whites could still recruit a 'developing' hooker on a short-term contract as cover, to add to Edmonds, Darren Dawidiuk and Koree Britton.
Italian Tommaso d'Apice could still sign another Kingsholm deal to fill that void, but The Citizen understands that is increasingly unlikely.
Davies explained: "These long-term injuries complicate the process of squad balance and recruitment, especially in key positions like hooker that are extremely specialist.
"We will still look at that situation, because there's no guarantees where these things are concerned.
"So it may be that we need to bring somebody in to cover us in that scenario.
"But we're a lot more hopeful now and we'll just see how the next few weeks pan out, and what becomes available.
"But we want somebody who will be more of a developing player than anything else.
"Koree has come through very well this year and I'd expect him to kick on again next year, and Darren is an excellent player, extremely solid.
"And Huia is one of our premier signings.
"So if we do bring someone in then it would certainly need to be a developing player."
Edmonds had his surgery nearly a month ago, and his recovery is progressing well.
His LARS procedure – Ligament Augmentation and Reconstruction System – can only be carried out when strong stumps remain at each end of the torn ligament.
Gloucester's head physio Adam Brett explained how Edmonds is already ahead of standard recovery schedules.
Brett said: "Huia is off his crutches, walking around and already doing strengthening and proprioceptive exercises.
"He's probably already a few weeks ahead of schedule, thanks to the immediate integrity of the artificial graft, and the early mobility of the knee.
"If he continues in the same direction as he has so far, and we encounter no set-backs, he would hopefully be looking at something more like four months than the standard six to nine.
"The operating consultant has reviewed Huia, and he was really happy with how the knee is looking, and how it's settled post operation.
"We're hoping for it to stay that way and get him into the best shape for the beginning of the year, giving Huia every opportunity to be fit at the earliest opportunity.
"Because you're not waiting for the integrity of the hamstring or patellar tendon to become the anterior cruciate ligament, you can progress rehabilitation faster than normal.
"But with the LARS you don't have to wait for that tendon to stiffen into position, and the integrity is already there, hopefully saving a couple of months off the rehab window and that's the big attraction."
