The Cardiff Rugby and Wales wing was left out of the Wales tour to Australia in July to enable him to get a knee and groin injury sorted – and to give him a break from the game.
“It’s been lovely, really nice, to get a break and I needed it, just to get over a few outstanding niggles from last year,” admitted the 59-times capped Adams.
“I got some treatment and saw some people who are specialists in those areas to get my problems sorted out. We got to the bottom of them in the end, got the right treatment and it was definitely beneficial.”
Last season he was having fluid drawn from a troublesome knee injury to allow him to play. He was also then diagnosed with a hernia in his groin.
That put an extra physical and mental burden on him as he attempted to train and play for both club and country. Now back in full training he is targeting a return in time for the opening round of BKT United Rugby Championship matches on Friday, 20 September when Zebre are the visitors.
“Even though it was a decision I made not to go on tour, there was no way I could have gone and been able to train at the intensity required and then also play. There was no way I could have done it,” added Adams.
“My knee problem through the Six Nations didn’t require any intervention from a specialist. It was rest and rehab, and then finally the blood stopped filling up in my knee.
“Touch wood, I’m past that problem, and I’ve had no issues since. I had a groin issue which we discovered later was a hernia.
“Sports athletes can have hernias and it doesn’t affect them – they can carry on as normal – but mine, when it was enlarging, was catching on a nerve going through my groin. That was the issue that was causing the pain, which was sorted out with a series of injections.
“The injections required a period of time where I couldn’t be on my feet, so there were four or five weeks when all I could do was some basic upper body weights and very, very light rehabbing.
“I feel way better, and the break allowed me to totally switch off from rugby after I’d had the treatment.”
He did of course watch Wales play against the Springboks and then in their three matches in Australia. Other than that, his time was spent on a beach in Pathos with his family, a trip to Disneyland Paris with his three-year-old daughter and a small ‘boys trip’.
“I did. I went to Pathos for a week which was lovely. I took my little girl to Disneyland for her third birthday.
That was the other thing, that was the first birthday I’ve been home for. I missed her birth, missed her first birthday and missed her second birthday. I’ve never been home on her birthday. It’s sentimental things. I took her to Disneyland, and had a little boys’ trip in between.
“The biggest thing for me at the end of last season was getting myself right. Even if my groin issue hadn’t been as bad as it was, and there was a chance I could have trained or played with decent intensity, I think the right thing would have been to have stayed home anyway,” said Adams.
“I needed a period of rest, that was the main thing. Fair play to Cardiff, they look after me really well and I want to make sure I’m in the best possible shape for them.”
