Arsenal star Laurent Koscielny practices his yoga as part of rehab from ruptured Achilles

Posted Tuesday, November 06, 2018 by Thesun.co.uk

ARSENAL defender Laurent Koscielny has turned to yoga to help his return to fitness.

The 33-year-old has been sidelined since May after rupturing the Achilles tendon in his right leg during the Gunners' Europa League semi-final, second leg against Atletico Madrid, crushing his World Cup dream with France.

Arsenal star Laurent Koscielny practices his yoga as part of rehab from ruptured Achilles
Laurent Koscielny has taken up Yoga to help with his rehab

Part of the defender's rehabilitation has been yoga and working with Sharon Heidaripour who specialises in the practice and worked at Arsenal as an injury prevention expert.

Koscielny posted a picture of himself on social media working with Heidaripour in a studio.

He told his 1.5million Instagram followers: "Thanks @footballyoga @sharon_footballyoga for being part of my rehab.

On Heidaripour's onelifeperfoamnce.co.uk website, the Frenchman added: "I have been doing yoga since January and feel a lot better physically - my tendons no longer hurt, and I am more relaxed and positive.

"There are lots of aspects to it that have enabled me to relax and be far more positive, both in my football and in my everyday life.

"I am able to recover more effectively after matches.

"It is a different form of therapy, and it allows me to work on my relaxation, meditation, breathing and stretching - a lot of important areas for a footballer.

Koscielny is now back in full training and despite no timescale on his return to first-team action, boss Unai Emery could give his skipper some Europa League game time later this month in the return game against Vorskla Poltava.