IF the last month at Middlesbrough has proved anything it's the continued importance of Jonny Howson.

Boro's captain was sorely missed in the dismal defeats to Plymouth and Stoke but his return from a knee injury sparked an instant improvement, with Michael Carrick's side picking up 10 points from their next four games leading into the current international break.

It's credit to the professionalism of Howson that he has such a good injury record but the 35-year-old still struggles to cope with the frustration of missing games when he is ruled out.

And when it comes to injury woe, nothing, says Howson, will compare with the pain of missing last season's play-off.

Boro's skipper was key last season as Carrick's side charged into promotion contention but the faltering final weeks of the regular campaign and the play-off disappointment came after Howson suffered an injury that kept him on the sidelines.

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Watching on as Boro came up short against Coventry City over two legs was one of the most frustrating and painful experiences of Howson's long career - and that heartbreak continues to drive the former Leeds and Norwich City midfielder, who is doing everything in his power to stay fit and to prolong his playing time.

"I do struggle being out because I want to play football and I want to be involved," he says.

"I’m not sure I’ll ever hurt as much as I did last season when I had to miss the play-offs.”

There were fears Howson would again miss a large chunk of Boro's run-in when he suffered a knee injury in the defeat at Preston in February. The initial expectation was that the midfielder faced a relatively long spell on the sidelines but after a meeting with a specialist, Howson progressed better than expected and Carrick was delighted to get his skipper back in the side.

"We had some good news with it," said Howson, reflecting on last month's injury.

"When we had the first scan it was expected to be quite a few weeks. Me and Brian English [club doctor] went to see a specialist down in London and it started presenting better than I expected. It was good news that I could push on and it wasn’t going to be as long.

"As soon as I got that green light to start working, that was the case. From a personal point of view, I’ve been very fortunate throughout my career to avoid any real long-term injury. Some of the lads in the past couple of years have had them and I see how difficult it can be.

"For myself, even if I’m out for a couple of weeks I struggle with that because, for example, recently when the lads were going away [for a game], I’m still at the training ground. I find that tough because you want to be out there, you want to be helping the lads out, and that’s no different even now.

"I’m glad that’s the case because it proves to me I’ve still got that passion and that hunger to put in the hard work and keep going."

Howson continued: “Certainly when you come towards the back end of your career which I am, you might not have that same feeling - you might not push yourself. But I still do - I want to push myself and work hard to get back out there as soon as possible.

"The doctors and the physios will tell me it’s X amount of weeks and I’ll say ‘I’ll do it quicker than that’ because that’s just my nature."