ONCE A fortnight, Collingwood defender Alan Toovey pays a visit to Richmond's Epworth Hospital.

Don't panic, Pie fans. It's not to treat a secret injury.

The 25-year-old exercise science student and teammate Cameron Wood visit the head injury ward, where they spend time with victims and help in their rehabilitation.

They visit patients in their rooms, who often are confined to bed for most of the day, and do what they can to brighten their mood.

"People either like or hate Collingwood so there's always something to talk about," Toovey told collingwoodfc.com.au.

"A lot of them are usually under 30, mostly car accidents, so we're young enough to go and speak to them and have a joke.

"Some of the injuries are pretty bad, especially when it's a 17-year-old who was just in a car with someone when it happened."

Toovey has a deeper reason to visit the hospital than wanting to just improve the quality of life of these patients for a few hours.

He has two units to complete in the degree he's studied over nearly six years at the Australian Catholic University and hasn't decided what he'll specialise in yet.

Toovey was interested in physiotherapy at school and still likes the idea of pursuing a post-football career in rehabilitation. 

But his time at Collingwood has opened his eyes to the world of sports science and what he could do in that field if he went down a different road.

"I wouldn't mind getting into the sports science stuff that happens at the club. It's always pretty interesting," he said.

"It would also be good to do rehab stuff for those kinds of head injuries, helping people getting back to walking.

"They do a running group at Epworth that is highly rated where they get people back to walking and then to running.

"That kind of rehab is interesting too, and I wouldn't mind being able to do something like that."

Toovey's had the club's sports science staff on hand for exam preparation and assignments, and said they had always been a handy resource for pressing questions.

While he finds the biomechanics side of his area of study interesting, he says there are benefits to helping people recover from significant injuries.

"You can see improvements but for head injuries, they can take decades to fully recover," he said.

"But, in the short time that we're there, you can see improvements in people, which is good."

Jennifer Witham is a reporter for AFL Media. Follow her on Twitter @AFL_JenWitham.