Wheelchair basketball star Joe Bestwick has overcome many challenges in his life – and right now he is facing another one.

Bestwick was born with his right ankle completely fused and his left one partially so.

Doctors wanted to perform a leg amputation when he was a child, but Bestwick and his family resisted until it took place in 2010.

By that time, Bestwick, 27, had established himself in the Great Britain team and helped them win a bronze at the Beijing Paralympics in 2008.

So he admits that having to manage a persistent back problem is pretty small beer – but says the improvement in his condition is down to the team based at Loughborough University where the GB team train.

Bestwick, who commutes between Loughborough and his Nottingham home and plays for the Telford Rhinos, said: "I have a tear in my disc which I am having to manage.

"I am in a bit of difficulty the day after I play but not during game-time when things are fine.

"I am getting some excellent physiotherapy here in Loughborough, which is really helping.

"It is an ongoing problem but you have to look at the overall context of being a disabled basketball player. I play sport in a pretty unnatural position.

"I did take the chance of having two weeks out of the chair to give my back a chance to heal more thoroughly."

But he admitted that two weeks' inactivity could have backfired, and he continued to be put through his paces in the Powerbase gym by Mark Jarvis.

He said: "Two weeks of no training would have been too long, though, so I kept up my strength and conditioning training as well as the exercises to help me back. That's why the gym work has been so important."

Bestwick said he took up wheelchair basketball after originally taking up canoeing.

"I was a canoeist at school but I had just competed during a very cold winter and it was a chance to compete indoors and I really took to the sport straight away."

His achievements on the court culminated in an appearance at the Beijing games.

"We had finished only fifth in the Worlds, but the sport is such that there are eight really strong teams and, on their day, anyone of them can medal and that is what we did. It was a brilliant time."

Now his focus, of course, is on London and that was brought home when the draw was held earlier this month for the Paralympics, which run from August 29 to September 9.

Great Britain are in a pool with Germany, Canada, Colombia, Poland and Japan and he said: "It really depends on what we do.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing as we are staging the Games. We got support in Beijing but not what we can expect in London. It is going to be fantastic."

But, of course, Bestwick, who is a forward, still has to prove to the selectors that he has done enough to warrant a place in the squad.

He admitted: "I have really no idea if I will make the squad.

"I can't say what the selectors are thinking, it could go either way.

"I'm experienced and went to Beijing but I didn't go to the Europeans last year and we won the thing so you never know.

"All I know is that someone is going to be disappointed and I just hope it isn't me. The team will be chosen in May so I'm just hoping I make it but we have a strong group of forwards."