SCOTT McKENNA has been forced to utilise bannisters, kitchen work-tops and his hallway as the Aberdeen ace ‘improvises’ on his road to recovery. 

The Scotland internationalist suffered a torn hamstring against St Mirren on February 29, just a fortnight prior to football being placed on an indefinite hiatus due to the coronavirus outbreak. 

Although McKenna was able to receive face-to-face treatment in the immediate aftermath of the potentially season-ending set-back, the introduction of lockdown measures has forced the Dons’ medical minds to get creative.

Pittodrie head of medical and football science Adam Stokes admits the situation has been a ‘challenge’ but, thanks to some unusual workarounds, he insists the £5 million-rated stopper is still getting his rehabilitation done. 

Stokes said: “Scott [McKenna] is a bit more of a challenge because of the severity. 

“With the type of injury it is, you would normally like to be quite hands-on, especially in the early stages, so he is the one we have been really improvising with. 

“We have been FaceTiming pretty much every day, except Sundays, we are always on the phone and messaging.

“There is a decent sized area of pitch near us that he can work on and we can liaise about where he can do his work. I know the land quite well. 

“Because it’s a hamstring injury, there are lots of measures we like to take, in terms of how he is moving and how the injury is responding. 

“With some improvisation - his girlfriend taking videos of certain movements - I can keep an eye on his range of movements. That gives me an insight into the progress he is making and when to move on in his programme. 

“We had just moved into that amazing space at Cormack Park, with everything laid out perfect for the boys - and now we’re working in hallways and front rooms.

“A couple of his exercises involve resistance bands and it can be a challenge to find anchor points for that in Scott’s flat - so he’s having to use the bannister and hang out the front door. He’s been on work-tops as well. 

“We know what we want to give him - it’s just about adapting that to what he has available.” 

While the methods may be unconventional, Stokes has nothing but praise for McKenna’s application. 

And remarkably, given the circumstances, he has revealed that the 14-times capped defender is on track to recover in the same three-month timeframe that was suggested prior to the Covid-19 crisis hitting. 

He told Red TV: "Scott’s done absolutely brilliant given the lack of contact. 

"He’s not far off exactly where I hoped he would be at this point and that’s a credit to him, that he is still putting in those hours of effort that no-one sees.”