Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson missed only one game after he suffered a back injury in the third game of his rookie year, but he now says the injury affected him much more than he had previously let on.

Speaking to Tom Kowalski of Booth Newspapers, Johnson said that pain medication was the only way he was able to play the final three months of 2007.

“I was on meds the rest of the season. I was taking Vicodin twice a game just to get through the game,” Johnson said. “I stayed hurt the whole season, probably because I was trying to come back too soon. But I’m not going to be the kind of guy who’s going to say, ‘I can’t do this or this because I’m hurt.’ ”

Johnson also said that former Lions offensive coordinator Mike Martz pressured him to keep going when he would have been better off resting his back.

“When I first got hurt, that Wednesday I was out there in my sweats watching practice and [Martz] told me to go run,” Johnson said. “I said, ‘I can’t run.’ I couldn’t even walk fast. I was thinking, ‘Why are you telling me to run?’ ”

According to Johnson, the back injury is still causing him some discomfort now, nearly seven months after the fact. But he thinks he’ll be at 100 percent by training camp.