RIO FERDINAND could not walk properly.

He often needed to take painkillers to sleep at night after games.

He would waddle into Old Trafford like an elderly hunchback and be unable to train for up to five days.

His back was so stiff even lying in bed, sitting on a sofa, or shopping in the high street would bring severe pain.

But the stubborn Manchester United, and now England captain, convinced himself he didn't have a problem.

However, in one short meeting in manager Sir Alex Ferguson's office, he got his wake-up call.

Just 48 hours earlier Ferdinand had carried the can for the Fernando Torres goal that put bitter rivals Liverpool on the way to a resounding 2-0 Anfield triumph.

Ferdinand had also been blasted by former England boss Graham Taylor, who insisted his "legs had gone".

But it was the few sympathetic words from his United gaffer - not the infamous hairdryer treatment - that finally convinced Ferdinand he needed help.

Speaking for the first time about his 18 months of injury hell, Ferdinand reveals the full extent of his back problem; how he visited 10 different specialists and how a radical treatment of six spinal glucose injections, intense physiotherapy and an orthopaedic cushion have cured the problem. "My back would go into spasm and I wouldn't be able to move," he confessed. "I couldn't straighten up properly.

"The day after a game I would waddle into the club like a duck, bent over like an old hunchback.

"I would be hobbling around, unable to train for four or five days. I would be OK to play the next game, but I must have missed 60-70 per cent of training.

"The initial diagnosis was that I had a muscular problem. I was doing core work and receiving massage and physio but it wasn't what I needed.

"So my fitness deteriorated. But, as a footballer, you think you are super human; you don't think anything will stop you playing.

"I'd had the problem for 18 months, I played in certain games when my back was so stiff it restricted my movement.I must have seen 10 different osteopaths, physios and chiropractors and they were good for short fixes.

"To sort it for good would mean stop playing, but I was thinking: 'I'm getting through games, so why stop?'

"I wanted to stay in the team, I want to win trophies, so to not play was unthinkable. I thought if I can patch myself up during the week to get through each game I'd be fine.

"If I'm honest, I didn't make it clear to the gaffer and the club physios that my injury was that serious.

"I just had an incredible desire to play football and had never had to deal with an injury of this scale before.

"But I was summoned into the manager's office after the Liverpool defeat.

"He told me: 'Last season, Torres would not have scored that goal against you'. As soon as he said that, you sit up and take notice.

Excuses

"I'd pulled my back straight away in that game, but didn't want to come off.

"I received treatment at half-time. The physios asked me how I was, but I wanted to carry on, through sheer bloody mindedness, I guess.

"After every game I would need treatment on my back. But, at the end of the Liverpool game, I couldn't even stand up.

"However, I didn't look at that goal as though I was injured, because I was getting through games. And I didn't want to make excuses. But when the manager tells you something like that it hits home. So we made a decision to rest it completely before I could return to the team."

The result was a series of visits to see orthopaedic specialist Dr Simon Petrides at the Blackberry Clinic in Milton Keynes and former GB Olympic physio Kevin Lidlow at the Third Space Medicine Group HQ in Soho.

Petrides recommended a course of prolotherapy injections which involve jabbing a needle containing a glucose mixture directly into the ligaments between each vertebra of the spine.

The injections stimulate the body to make new fibres which thicken and strengthen ligaments.

Ferdinand received a total of six separate injections over a seven-week period, and admitted: "The prolotherapy was very painful, they were BIG needles.

"But I noticed improvement almost straight away.

"I had been in a lot of discomfort. If I was sitting on a sofa I had to constantly change positions to ease the pain. Just walking 20 minutes around the shops, or even lying in bed watching TV, would also give me pain.

"I took painkillers and sleeping tablets after many games to get a decent night's sleep. But after the second injection I was able to sit normally with no pain.

"Before I had my prolotherapy I was given a movement scan, like an x-ray, where the specialist can see how your spine moves - and the vertebrae in my lower back were locked together."

Lidlow continued to manipulate Ferdinand's back through targetted massage "just as painful as the injections" and has given the 6ft 2in centre-half an orthopaedic cushion to sit on when he's on a train, sitting at home or in a restaurant.

"Kevin and the club physios have pulled me through," added Ferdinand. "I must say the club have been really good.

"They have let me see specialists outside Old Trafford; club doctor Steve McNally has been first class in facilitating all of them while club physio John Davin has been with me when I've seen these other specialists.

"John has given me the confidence and kept telling me I would be OK, while my management team New Era Global Sports have also been very supportive.

"No-one ever said I would never play again, they all said: 'Listen, you have to give it time.'

"But I am very impatient. I didn't want to wait a few weeks."

To make matters worse during his rehabilitation, Ferdinand was also hit by the untimely death of his beloved grandfather.

However, despite the pain and the heartache, Ferdinand is now firmly on his way back.

He spent three months out following the Liverpool game on October, 25 before making his comeback in the 4-0 League win over Hull.

He was still troubled by his back so missed last month's 2-1 Carling Cup final victory over Aston Villa and England's 3-1 friendly win over Egypt.

But he is no longer in pain and insists he has been cured.

Poignantly, he faces Torres and Liverpool at Old Trafford today.

"I'm training at full pelt now," he added. "Now I just need a run of games to get match fit.

"I'm still using the cushion, it helps my posture. I look daft when I'm sat on it in a restaurant - it makes me look really tall. But it has certainly helped."

Ferdinand also hit back at Taylor and former England striker and now pundit Stan Collymore, who questioned whether he would be fit enough to lead his country in South Africa.

"You are always going to get doubters in your life," said Ferdinand. "Some people need to chase a pound note, but when you talk about people's injuries you should not make assumptions when you don't know the facts.

"Now, I want to play as many games as I can for Manchester United and England.

"I am greedy. I want to win the Premier League, the Champions League and the World Cup, too.

"You have to go through a lot of hardship to get fit, but it's part and parcel of being a professional footballer.

"Ask my United team-mate Owen Hargreaves. He is having regular injections in his knees.

"But you would run through a brick wall to play football day in, day out. So a little pain is not too bad.

"However, I need to be more honest now in terms of whether I am fit enough to play.

"I used to say: 'Right, I can get round the pitch' and that was it - even if I wasn't properly fit.

"But now I've got to be more truthful and to be fair on the team.

"And if I'm not fit enough to play I'll have to say so.

"I want to play for as long as possible. If I am playing for Manchester United and England at 35 or 36 I will be delighted."

That would give him a crack at the 2014 World Cup.

"But I'd sooner win it at 31," he said.