Barrie McKay: I read that my leg might be amputated - I'm just glad to be back playing at Hearts

Winger endured some initial mental fear over his knee problem

Barrie McKay joked that his leg might be amputated after suffering a posterior cruciate ligament injury in August. The Hearts winger used Google to research the condition and was horrified at what the search engine brought up.

He limped off against PAOK Salonika at Tynecastle Park in the Europa Conference League play-off and spent three months on the sidelines recovering. He returned to competitive action as a substitute against Rangers on Wednesday night.

"I did my PCL but unusually when you do it, it’s a contact injury. I ran in a straight line. The specialist had never seen that before, so it was unpredictable," recalled McKay. "When I pulled up I think everybody thought: 'Hamstring.'

"I remember Shanks [Lawrence Shankland] coming over to me and asking if I had done my hamstring. I said no, it was my knee. It’s weird how you know your own body. I just had a feeling, but when the scan came back it said my knee.

"I had never heard of that injury before and probably the worst thing you can do is go home and Google it - it tells you your leg is about to get amputated! It’s one of those ones you need deal with. You listen to the physios advice and go from there.

"You don’t really hear of PCL injuries in football, it’s more ACLs, MCLs. I’ve been out for as long as they thought I would be. I have done everything by the book. Some people are in a brace for 12 weeks, even longer. You don’t get surgery, it heals with the brace and the position you are in."

The injury was both a mental and physical setback for McKay after a summer spent recovering from ankle surgery. "I had no idea how long I’d be out," he explained. "I remember getting the phone call from the physio and my heart just sank a little bit. I had been back a week and played three games. I was fully fit and in squads for a week. That was the hardest thing to deal with.

"You know about hamstrings and take it from there, but because of the unknown I didn’t know if my season was done or if I would be back in a certain amount of time. The weird thing is I pulled up and felt something but I wasn’t in a lot of pain. It just got stiff more than anything and you get put in a brace.

"So your leg stiffens up with that, I had a brace on 24/7 for eight weeks and I just couldn’t wait to get it off. Once I was out of the brace you then build it up again and make sure everything is strong. I did all the testing to make sure my body could cope with the impact of running.

"And then you do a couple of weeks of non-contact training and full training. You just keep building it up. It has been a long journey, but it hasn’t been the worst."