Rugby player’s leg inflates 10cm after being infected with dog poo

A rugby player's calf ballooned to double the size after a seemingly harmless graze got dangerously infected.

Neil Baxter, 44, is no stranger to suffering bumps and bruises, so he didn't think much of the one-inch graze on his calf from a boot stud during a match with his club Mistley Rugby Club in Essex.

But later, when the amateur rugby player got home after his match, he noticed his leg had swollen 10cm bigger and started feeling hot.

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When Neil went to get it checked out at the doctors, he discovered that the graze had been infected with dog poo.

Thus began three months of hospital treatments.

"I went to A&E at Colchester Hospital and they said I had an abscess just behind my shin bone, so they had to cut my leg open and flush it all out," said Neil.

"They had to leave the wound open and pack it with loads of stuff, which they gradually removed over a three-month period before gradually closing it up."

It was last February when Neil first went to the hospital with his infection, and a year later, the feeling still hasn't returned to his calf.

"I now cannot feel my calf from about two inches below my knee right to the bottom of the muscle," said the dad of two.

"You could stick a pin in there, I would not be able to feel it."

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Thankfully, Neil is back playing rugby again, but the infection left him with a 'big dent' in his calf.

"I had to do a lot of work in the gym," he explained.

"Going from being very strong in my legs to not being able to lift any weight on that leg was strange.

"When using the leg press I couldn't have any weight on it at all."

Neil, who is the chairman of Mistley Rugby Club in Essex, has now implemented stricter rules for cuts and grazes.

"We've put a lot more protocols at the club since it happened - we now have wipes and gel to clean any cuts before showering.

"People are more vigilant now.

"The council weren't able to put more poo bins out so we've installed them and emptied the bins ourselves."

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He added: "I own two dogs and I would not leave poo anywhere - it is just the one per cent of owners responsible.

“What worries me more than anything is this becoming another barrier stopping people from bringing their children to play rugby.

“Participation levels are down and this sort of stuff really does not help.

“Rugby is so great but we cannot show children that because their parents might now be worried about them getting dog poo in any cuts."