Scott Allan: Hibs player in 'best' shape after heart condition diagnosis
Last updated on .From the section Hibernian
Scott Allan feels "physically the best" he has in his career having returned to the Hibernian first team after being diagnosed with a heart condition.
The midfielder, 29, revealed in January he had been suffering from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which causes fatigue and shortness of breath.
He did not feature for Jack Ross' Hibs for five months.
"The biggest thing is just not taking football for granted," Allan told BBC Radio Scotland's Sportsound.
"I genuinely physically feel the best I've felt throughout my whole career. I still believe I've got the best years ahead of me."
Allan, who also has diabetes, saw specialist cardiologists after being substituted against Aberdeen in late August and went through "rigorous" testing to get back into the first team reckoning.
He now uses a continuous blood monitor, has adjusted his diet and says Hibs have been "different class" in supporting him.
The former Celtic player is now focused on getting back to "being the player I know I can be, if not better" after making four appearances off the bench since January.
"I just wasn't feeling myself, really fatigued early on in games and just getting dizzy spells here and there throughout training," he explained. "One thing I knew it wasn't my diabetes. I knew there was something maybe underlying.
"We played Aberdeen at home and I just felt physically not there 10 minutes in, was breathing really heavily, subbed off after 60 minutes.
"Sitting in the cardiologist's office, I'd be lying if I said the most part of me didn't think this could be it. I got the second opinion, did the exact same test and came through it with flying colours."
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