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Jonathan Woodgate has revealed he tried some offbeat medical treatments in a bid to resolve the injury problems which plagued his playing career - including botox and a bizarre wrapping remedy involving grass.

The recently retired former Boro defender, 36, went into more detail during his guest spot on weekly Sky Sports review programme Goals on Sunday yesterday.

Woodgate, who is currently considering his next move in football after being linked with a scouting role at Liverpool, said he went through a couple of off-the-wall procedures when he was at Real Madrid, who he joined from Newcastle in a £13.4m move back in 2004.

Woodgate said: “I went there with a thigh injury and signing injured was a nightmare because all you want to do is go out there on the pitch and impress them and try to make the team better.

“I couldn’t and I was rushing my injury. I think I did it twice when I was there and finally I had to get an operation on it and I was trying everything.

“There was a time when this doctor came over and he was getting all this grass and putting it round my leg and stuff like that.

“He looked like Captain Birdseye and I was thinking to myself: ‘What am I doing?’

(Image: Getty Images)

“We were in the physio’s house at the time and he started boiling this pan and putting grass in.

“I was thinking: ‘Is that for me, where is he going to put it and what is he going to do with it?’

“He put clingfilm on top of it and I kept it on for 48 hours. Did it work? What do you think?.

“But you will do anything (to try and sort it out) and I had botox in my thigh to try and stop one of the muscles from firing.

“Weird. But, like I say, you will do anything.”

Woodgate refused to confirm whether he had been appointed as a scout working for Liverpool in Spain and Portugal, saying “it’s a bit up in the air.”

But he tipped Boro to finish between 10th and 12th on their return to the Premier League this term after attending their season-opening 1-1 draw against Stoke.