Photo Credit: Rocky Widner/ Getty

When the Warriors boarded their plane set for their big road trip of the month earlier this week, they were missing one handy (and heavy) man. The Australian former no. 1 pick in Andrew Bogut. He was left stranded in L.A. waiting for more check-ups and tests for his injured ankle.

Our Aussie number 1 guy continues his rehabilitation on the surgically repaired left ankle in which has caused him trouble for quite some time. In desperate need for a healing aid to return to action 100% healthy, US Sports Down Under has learnt that Bogut has been taking another measure to get to that point.

The Warriors have confirmed that Andrew has received Regenokine injections, which is a blood manipulation treatment on his ankle. This treatment is very similar to the one Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant had during the off-season of 2011 to repair his injured knee (Bryant couldn’t stop praising these injections), along with the A-Rod (Alex Rodriguez) of the MLB a few years back and more recently Andrew Bynum of the 76ers.

More information on the ‘Regenokine injections’:

- It’s a program that uses the body’s own protein to reduce inflammation.

- It is used to treat osteoarthritis, joint pain, low back pain and some muscle and tendon issues.

This is that same ankle that Bogut fractured in January before he was shipped to Golden State in a deal that included crowd favourite Monta Ellis. The Warriors were very keen for him to be up and about by the start of this season, however were set back by the need for surgery on the ankle and it’s been downhill ever since for Bogut and the franchise.

Although Bogut did get back to playing a couple of games this year, you could tell that this process had been heavily rushed and not long after Bogut was back on the sidelines with bags of ice and more pain killers.

During this time he averaged only 6 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2 assists a game.

Because of this, Andrew feels like he is ‘letting people down’. Bogut on having to watch the team play while hurt:

I can’t stand it. It drives me crazy, and it’s probably the most frustrating thing. And I think most athletes will say the same thing. When you’re sitting on the bench in a suit, you feel vulnerable. You see guys out there and you know you can help, and obviously you can’t physically. So it’s very frustrating and something that I’ve learnt to try and deal with but I don’t deal with well. You can deal with it — I’m still alive, I’m still breathing — but … I get down about it every now and then and it’s very frustrating. You hear everyone say stay positive you’ll get through it. Yeah, but you still gotta get through it. So the light at the end of the tunnel is close but it’s just not there yet and hopefully once I’m back out there this will be it for me as far as bad luck goes.

Lastly for Bogut fans, a source close to the Warriors camp over in Oakland has stated that Bogut could be likely to miss the rest of 2012, however no current time schedule is set. Bad news for the Warriors, and bad news for Aussie NBA fans as we’re now down to just one Aussie hero for us to watch on our screens here down under.