Collingwood’s Ben Reid is confident he can have an injury free 2015 season, after returning from an eight-day visit to Germany where the 25-year-old received specialised treatment for his troublesome soft tissue injuries.

Reid was treated by Doctor Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt, considered to be one of the leading doctors in the world for soft tissue injuries.

Dr. Wohlfahrt has been the club doctor at Bayern Munich for over 35 years and has treated some of the world’s best athletes.

“The main goal  (of the trip) was to get a few different ideas and see some different people to treat and analyse the issues I have been experiencing”, Reid told CollingwoodTV on his first day back at the club this year.

“To get over and see Dr. Wohlfahrt was a really good experience, I have definitely taken some things away from it.

“A few of the things we picked up on were a lot of exercises.  He gave me a few exercises I could bring back here and try to implement in my training program.”

“He (Dr. Wohlfahrt) gave me his ideas of why my injuries were happening.  He says he sees it pretty regularly, which gave me some confidence.

After a 2014 season blighted by a series of soft tissue injuries, Reid had been on a carefully managed pre-season program.  He suffered a minor calf injury at the outset of preseason and it was then decided that the club would send the Magpies to Germany to be assessed.

“Dr. Wohlfahrt took an X-ray of my spine and he thinks a lot of the soft tissue injuries stem from my lower back.  Which the guys here thought as well, but it was just to get another outlook from a guy who has dealt with it for a while.

“His techniques are probably a little bit different to what they do over here and it was something I will take on board which will help me out.

“He (Dr. Wohlfahrt) is so big over there that when you get in a taxi and tell the driver to take you to the offices of Doctor Wolfhart, the driver knows exactly where to go.  I don’t think there would be too many doctors in Melbourne that taxi drivers know who they are.

“He has treated sportsmen including Usain Bolt, who goes there every three months and Kobe Bryant was there last year from the NBA.”

Reid believes he has enough time to reach a peak level of fitness before the season commences.

“Today was my first day back and it was great to have a run around outside.

“Hopefully after Queenstown (in two weeks) I will be into full training.

“The last 12 months haven’t been great, the three or four years before that I didn’t miss much footy at all.

“Hopefully I can get on top of that this year and touch wood, I will be able to stay injury free.”