Real Madrid Fans, Should We Replace the Medical Team?

Ok guys, just like the Navas question, I would like each and everyone of you to give your take about the medical team. Exactly how (dis)satisfied are you? If you were in charge, would you replace them for next season or would you keep them? Are our injuries woes down to the players not taking care of themselves as professional athletes should or is it simply down to our medical team's incompetence?

It should have been done years ago. By far the worst medical staff at the top level along with Chokesenal's

We definitely should. I don't remember the last season we had this many injuries.

The medical team needed replacing since 2008.

We're under contract. We can't replace them until the contract runs out.

Turok_TTZ wrote:The medical team needed replacing since 2008.

its a different medical staff from the one in 2008 under calderon. if i remember correctly, that one too was garbage, we even got someone who had worked under fergie at utd around that time too, in the 08/09 season; as far as injuries are concerned that has to be one of the worst, if not the worst injury ridden season we've ever suffered. presently, imo its not just the staff but players. some guys are just injury prone- when i hear bale has an injury i'm not surprised, even in his first season, before he settled he kept getting nagging injuries.....unless the medical team are foolishly ignoring some things

While I am with everyone that our medical staff is pretty much the same staff at the show General Hospital, I always wonder if our players actually take care of their own bodies. You know, living an appropriate lifestyle suited for the stresses of being a professional athlete.

Every clubs every fan says their medical team sucks... I really don't give too much blame to any clubs medical staffs. We had horrible preseason which is on club but on our medics.

i'm leaning towards doc's and adit's point; unless it's plainly obvious, there's a lot of difficulty playing injuries down to one party. first of all, as i said before the 08/09 season if i remember correctly was worse- ruud, our top player was injured for much of the previous season returning when we won liga against barcelona. then the following year was out until close to the middle of the season after in 09/10. sneijder too was injured for the bulk of that season, we played ramos at left back in a 2 nil clasico loss at the nou camp, and had javi garcia, a then unknown youth player, start cos mahmoudu was out for the year; i think he even missed the entire year under pellegrini as well, and only returned in mourinho's first year

the point of the above is; even then, if you were a frequent of any of the pro madrid papers or broadcasts, there was talk of mistrust among players and the medical staff. i see people talk about cristiano and his decisions to consult others with respect to injuries. that's not new, when the marseille player injured him back in his first season with us, if my memory serves me correctly, he sought the attention of a dutch doctor not hired by madrid. and the medical staff then (which i think was brought in in the 07 campaign up to 2012 or 2013) was a different one from what we have now.

medicine and injuries aren't like the games we watch. you can watch a game and conclude that, "we're losing because we haven't attempted a shot, so the problem is with attack" or "we're losing cos the defenders are not in their position, so the problem is defense". medicine comes down to an array of things; it could be the medical staff, it could be the style of coaching, it could be (and in a lot of cases, it is) the players and their inability to manage their bodies and habits.

i don't like our guys getting injured but we do have some very injury prone guys, and i'm not sure we can heap all that on solely on the medical staff.....to me, this argument seems like grasping for straws, why? first of all we blamed carlo; we said he drilled the team into the ground and it led to injuries- I agreed with that partly, especially with how he handled modric, i felt when he was deemed fit, he shouldn't have started the next game, but brought in slowly. then carlo left, and we said it was the way rafa was training the players. i don't like rafa, a foolish move to have him as coach (just cos he's from madrid), but i wasn't sure we could come to that conclusion, considering it was the same guys getting injured from before. now he is gone and it must be the medical team....with a more balanced and deeper squad brought in via proper scouting, and players competing for places, i think this can be solved

As many of you know, I grew up in France and then moved there again from 2010-2015 before returning the US.  From firsthand experience...  health, fitness and healthcare is 100000x better in the US.  Every aspect of it is better because doctors in the US have the opportunity to become wealthy while doctors in Europe have a hard ceiling terms of money they can make.  So the best healthcare professionals come to the US because of the money... simple as that.

How is it relevant?  You see the difference in quality in terms of healthcare facilities and the abilities of the doctors. It applies to sports too because injuries to athletes in the US are better diagnosed and better treated than the Europe.  Just a recent example:  Steph Curry twisted his knee in the NBA playoffs and sprained a ligament.  He was back in practice in 10 days and they are expecting him at full strength imminently... which would make it a little more than 15 days.  In Europe, that's a 1 month injury.  The reason is that Curry and other athletes do this crazy ligament routine daily that is designed to improve bloodflow and flexibility.  It focuses on the knees and ankles.  As a result, the injuries tend to be less severe when they happen and recovery time is reduced.  You also rarely see hamstring injuries as training has evolved to minimize its risk.

Madrid fans should remember that Higuain smartly got his back surgery in the US and saved his career despite Madrid wanting to do it locally.  Why?  Best doctor in the world in terms of that specific surgery was in Chicago.

In football, athletes would take their heads out of their arse... they should always consult with a top US specialist to get a second opinion both on the issue and treatment.  It's just smart.  But they rarely do because that's not how it works in Europe.  On the other hand, despite most of the best specialists being in the US, athletes in the US do their research and look for alternative treatments that may not exist here...  like Orthokine treatment that has the top specialist in Germany.  Well, they travel to Germany to get the treatment.  Kobe Bryant started the trend for that one and everyone followed quickly.

Bottom line:  You can blame the club.  But in the end, it's the athlete's responsibility.  Your tool for your profession is your body.  You need to independently make sure you're taking care of it.  In the US, athletes get their team's opinion but always have another group of doctors/trainers to get their opinions too.  They end up making the most informed choices.

most athletes seek second opinions, or correction, most top athletes seek second opinions, since they can afford it. and i'm sure a club of real madrid's stature or any top european football club hires top notch medical specialists, not some bum on the street. and even kobe if i remember correctly went to germany for a certain medical procedure (i can't remember what it was, i'd have to google it, had something to do with using his blood or something). so it's not an american or european thing.

it could be that some don't take care of their bodies or participate in activities not suitable for athletes. a medical team cannot assure a franchise that its players won't get injured, and even with dates of return, one has to be careful cos little things can aggravate injuries....my point is, it is all too vague/broad to pin things solely on the medics. even if all the players on our team, including the bench all pull their hamstrings, one would have to look at the technical staff first before the medics.....and as i said, some of our guys are just injury prone, with a deeper squad and well built squad, maybe one can have fresh players ready to step in if people get injured

My point is that I've noticed peeps in Europe, including athletes, are reluctant to look outside their comfort zone.  For example, when Varane needed knee surgery a couple of years back, he went to a surgeon in Lens.  Really????  Go find the best specialist in the world and have him do it.

Most pro athletes in the US go to a handful of specialists that are well known to be the best in their fields regardless of where they play.  I don't see that in Europe.

lol, varane at that time couldn't have been no more than 21, when you're that young and still wet behind the ears it is normal to seek medics or specialists you're familiar with, especially if it isn't a major injury. i'm not sure on the stats or data suggesting where a lot of european athletes seek treatment. but i think the bigger footballers (Depending on the injury as well) do look outside...especially if the doctors available, who at that stage become very close to them, recommend someone somewhere else. medicine is broad, and it isn't uncommon for doctors to recommend a procedure, and also recommend visiting another specialist to carry it out

but back on topic, we don't have anything concrete to suggest that the medical team we have is useless, so to decide they are at fault and some other group will do a better job is a huge assumption. as someone pointed out, when injured hit, every big club in europe complains about their medical team. and i don't think clubs that can spend ridiculous fees on players will hire a bunch of scrubs to run their medical dept.

those same scrubs keep misdiagnosing our top players though and that is really troublesome. and this isnt the only season that its happened. at some point, the club has to change something. its one of our weaker spots damn it.

Now we're talking. [Link]

Get the doctor Guardiola fired from Bayern please. Muller-Wohlfahrt His name is, I believe.

We still negotiating for Theo? Thought that was concluded already. Anyway, we'll see if it is the medical team or some of our players just simply have injury prone bodies.

The Demon of Carthage wrote:Now we're talking. [Link]

Get the doctor Guardiola fired from Bayern please. Muller-Wohlfahrt His name is, I believe.

Müller-Wohlfahrt is probably 80 years by now

He's basically a mummy at this point, and he looks like one too

That dude injects honey into people. Him and Bale are a bad combo.

ronalessi wrote:That dude injects honey into people. Him and Bale are a bad combo.

this nearly hurt my ribs. i'll only get excited about medics if our usual suspects, we know who they are can stay healthy for the first 8 weeks of the season

Overall the past few seasons I feel we have been fairly well on the injury/fitness front.

I feel we have mostly had issues with players who have been known to have chronic problems- Bale, and Modric, or it's just injuries that happen over international breaks.

That being said our players have been fit when it has counted.

Different isn't always better, though I certainly hope it's better

Good riddance.

It's official: Jesus Olmo is gone. [link]

He has been replaced with a doctor named Niko Mihic.

I don't know anything about him honestly, but I hope he's better than that walking disaster Olmo.