Claustrophobia is the irrational or extreme fear of having no escape and being closed into a small space which can result in panic attacks. 

An expert in navigating through tight spaces on the hallowed turf of the MCG for the past 13 seasons, it is tight spaces outside of the ground that makes Scott Pendlebury nervous.  

Since being hit an illness over the pre-finals bye, Pendlebury has been seeking treatment by means of a hyperbaric chamber, where pure oxygen is breathed at a higher pressure to allow greater volumes of oxygen to be delivered throughout the body. 

As mentioned on Collingwood Media Podcast ‘Jock and Journo’, it is the hyperbaric chamber that tests the club captain more than anything. 

“I get claustrophobic really easily, this thing challenges me to no ends,” Pendlebury told co-host Jay Clark of the Herald Sun.

“It’s 90 minutes in there and you sort of get locked in.”

iTunes: Download and listen to the latest episode of Jock and Journo here.

Most sessions require staff talking to Pendlebury through the intercom, encouraging him to make it through the recovery. 

“Every time I’ve been in I’ve freaked and I hit the emergency button and the girl comes and talks to me. 

“Usually I tell her I’m not ok, my heart rate is like, 180,” he said. 

The distraction of his phone is not enough to keep his mind at ease, dispute the fact that the treatment makes a significant difference. 

“I take my phone in, I try not to go on it but when I freak I’ll watch something on my phone to try and act like I’m not there. 

“I hate it but it’s good for me so I do it,” he said.

S2EP13: Pendles' kryptonite, sore teeth & previewing the big prelim - Jock and Journo
Being rattled with sore teeth (2:25), favourite type of pizza (4:00), controlling the middle against GWS (7:00), Brayden Maynard’s best game (9:00), a Collingwood cage match (10:30), Will Hoskin-Elliott becomes an A-grader (12:30), running onto the ‘G with Bucks’ kids (16:10), previewing the prelim (20:00), questions around Dusty’s corkie (25:00), is the running bounce dead? (30:30), finals rest vs playing through (35:15), West Coast scarred by the 2015 Grand Final (39:40), Pendles’ kryptonite (41:45) and more.