Ben Shephard still ‘not 100 percent’ as knee was ‘properly shattered’

Good Morning Britain presenter Ben Shephard, 47, was left in agonising pain when he suffered a triple injury when playing a game of football on AstroTurf. He was hospitalised for the injury and underwent surgery in June last year.

However, more than 16 months later, Ben is still not back to full health.

In an exclusive interview with Express.co.uk, the host explained: “I tore my ACL and then I tore the meniscus and then I fractured my knee cap.

“I did it really, really badly. It was horrendous because a few weeks later, I got it scanned and realised it was properly shattered, the whole knee cap, the whole knee joint really.

“I eventually got the operation and I’m still not 100 percent. I’m probably about 16 months post-op and I can do most things.

“I couldn’t do anything for a very long time, it was really debilitating, it was horrendous. I hated it.”

Luckily, Ben was able to seek help from a “brilliant” physiotherapist, and he says he was determined to get better.

He continued: “I was pretty single-minded about trying to make sure I got my flexibility back and a chance to start training.

“It’s a long, slow, really painful road, the rehab to an ACL injury. My sympathy goes out to anybody that ends up doing something like this because it’s really innocuous.” 

“You put it on the table and sort of use your hands on the pedals. I was absolutely killing myself on this machine trying to make it work. I was doing anything I possibly could to get some aerobic exercise, to try and get a bit of cardio in.

“Fortunately, since I’ve got my mobility back, I’ve been able to donate that to the gym down the road from us and I go past regularly and see some of the elderly people using it. It’ s lovely to see it getting reused because actually, it is a great bit of kit.”

It comes after Ben motivated others to exercise when he hosted the FORTIS Championship final earlier this month.

As a Speedflex Ambassador, Ben joined 16 teams who defeated more than 700 from Everyone Active centres in Harrow Lodge, Basildon, Watford, Spelthorne and Fareham.

Ben said it was a “great” experience and praised that the workout is suitable for everyone from “professional rugby players and footballers” to “Paralympians, new mums and pensioners”.

FORTIS is dubbed “a HIIT workout like no other” as the high octane, low impact challenges ensure you are working really hard without the pain the next day. 

You can find out more here.