“The person who is injured gets the most impatient” and “We realized that it was important to be together” Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara about recovering from injuries

Posted on 2024-05-29 • No comments yet

 

Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara about recovering from injuries.

original source: number.bunshun.jp dd. 24th May 2025 by Yoshie Noguchi

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In the interview posted on Sports Graphic Number Web Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kiharachanges told about recovering from injuries. Here’s a translation of their comments.

“We discussed that we needed a new challenge to become stronger. So we decided to practice new techniques for all four lifts in both the short and free skate.” Miura recalled a conversation from last summer after winning World Championships.

However, just before the season start in October, Kihara started to feel back pain.

“I had been feeling discomfort since summer, but in retrospect, I was being careless, thinking that all pair skaters always have back pain, so it’s fine. When I had an MRI, a distinct line was clearly visible on the bone…”

“Looking back, it was a bit of a reckless plan. Because we became world champions, we were thinking too much that we ‘needed to grow more’, and we were spinning our wheels. The amount of lift training increased putting more strain on my back than usual,” said Kihara.

The diagnosis was spondylolysis. The doctor told him to stop trainings. “Still, I thought, I could endure the pain and compete in the competition,” Kihara admitted.

On the other hand, Miura, who experienced an injury last season, understood Kihara’s feelings all too well, saying “The person who is injured gets the most impatient. But considering the Olympics in two years, I said, we should treat it properly now.”

“The coach told us, “Practicing hard where Ryuichi is will be his motivation. You two should get stronger together,” Miura recalled the advice of their coach Bruno Marcotte.

“Until I was allowed to go on the ice, I just watched Miura’s practice from the side of the rink,” said Kihara.

For lunch, they ate their own healthy bento with boiled vegetables and low-fat meat together and in the afternoon, they went to a hospital in downtown Toronto, which took over an hour one way. Kihara pursued rehabilitation to recover his back pain, and Miura worked on strength training to prevent dislocation.

“I realized that it was important to be together. I didn’t feel any distrust, thinking, ‘Am I the only one trying hard?’ Rather, I thought, ‘I must work even harder,’ I watched Miura-san struggling with her rehabilitation and thought for myself with a grin, ‘You can push yourself even harder!'”

“Being able to say, ‘I’m going to treat it completely here,’ simply by having him there with me is much better than doing rehabilitation silently on my own like last year. But… I wish he would stop grinning (laughs),” said Miura.


 

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