Being told you can’t play football because of injury is standard for all but the lucky few professionals over the course of a career.
But being told you shouldn’t sneeze is a harder concept to grasp.
That advice to Steven Anderson underlined the seriousness of the eye socket injury the St Johnstone defender sustained in the Europa League clash with Alashkert.
Following it, though, was easier said than done.
Anderson, who has targeted a comeback against Hamilton after the international break, said: “For the first few weeks I wasn’t allowed to blow my nose or sneeze.
“That’s a pretty weird thing to ask someone to do and if anything it made me want to sneeze more.
“I did it a couple of times and was wondering what would happen, but thankfully nothing did. It hasn’t been painful but I have a plastic plate under my eyeball to keep in place.
“It was a strange one, I had a 90- minute operation where they went through under my eyelid and put this plastic thing in. Hopefully that will keep it in place although they have said it might slip at some point later in life.
“I’ll be a bit curious going up for headers initially but once I get that over and done with I’ll be fine.
“No doubt it will happen again at some point because as a defender you have to put your head in and run the risk of getting hurt. But once I’ve had a few headers I’ll get over any worries about it and be fine.”
As soon as Anderson was operated on he knew there would be no shortcut to a first-team return.
He said: “All I can do now is wait until the six weeks are up and then get playing again. It’s frustrating that you can do everything else bar play football.
“It’s really boring when you are physically fit but can’t train with the rest of the lads. It’s torture doing your own thing and just going to the gym every day.
“The gaffer was great, he told me to go away for a few days but my missus was working so we couldn’t.”
He added: “My face is feeling much better but I still have a bit of blurriness in my eye when I waken up in the morning.
“I’m due to see the surgeon again at the start of September but I’m doing a mini pre-season next week and then hopefully get an under-20s game.
“I’m hoping to be back after the international break next month.
“It is frustrating because I’m physically fine, it’s just having to watch the eye and give it six weeks to heal.
“We did ask about wearing a mask but that will protect the cheek and not the eye socket. It was annoying that it was missed in the first place because we had to chase it up eventually because my blurred vision wasn’t going away.”
Anderson hasn’t watched footage of the challenge by the Armenian player which inflicted the damage on him. And he won’t be seeking it out.
“People have told me it was a bad one but that’s what happens in football sometimes so you just have to move on,” he said.
“I might end up doing that to someone else by accident one day, so you don’t dwell on these things. People have told me it looked like he meant it, but that’s football.
“The weirdest thing was that I got booked for it!
“I wanted to go back on straight away but the physio told me I had no chance.
“I was being sick and was disorientated but that’s what happens when you’re a defender sometimes.”
enicolson@thecourier.co.uk