After fifty years of professional career, the Doctor Andreu Álvarez de la Vega, CEO of Center for Biological Medicine (CMB), Doctor of Medicine and Surgery, specialist in obstetrics, gynecology and pathological anatomy, expert in biological medicine, answers the most frequently asked questions about integrative medicine and elite sport.
What are the most common causes of sports injuries?
In general, sports injuries are closely related to the type of sport being played, as the injuries of cyclists (clavicle fractures), tennis players (tennis elbow) and football players (muscle, ligament or other bruises). The most common injuries in all types of sports are too due to falls (motorcyclists, cyclists, athletes). Having a physical trainer is very important in any sport and should also be monitored by a doctor who specializes in medicine sports, especially in elite sports. also necessary, especially in sports such as skiing, American football, figure skating, to use appropriate equipment to prevent injuries to our musculoskeletal system. Lack of physical fitness along with overtraining and lack of adequate rest between sports matches can also lead to injuries, especially muscle or league-type coin-like. “
Can everyone exercise?
“Without a doubt yes, but there are some qualifications to indicate. A very important factor in sports injuries is age, as top sport has to be practiced by young people in general. As the body ages, the musculoskeletal system ages too and every age has its sport, although there are always exceptions. ”
A sedentary lifestyle is the worst enemy there is to our body and our cardio circulation.
“For example, the sporting life of a top football player lasts up to 35 years or slightly longer. After this age, most of them can no longer perform 100 percent as required by coaches and the moment starts to hang up their boots. People with physical disabilities who can also naturally play any type of sport and show their mental strength to do it, along with persistence and tenacity, even to be Paralympic. Even the elderly can do it and that is very important for their body to stay young. It is common to see them swimming, walking, golfing, cycling, etc .; because a sedentary lifestyle is the worst enemy there is to our body and our cardio circulation. “
Do you need to prepare physically before exercising?
“Of course. We have to prepare our bodies from a physical point of view and consult with a physical trainer or a doctor specializing in sports medicine to guide us which sport is most suitable for our age, while not forgetting at what point in our lives we are because every age has its sport. If we look at the example animals set for us, when they wake up from a good night’s sleep and need to hunt for food, the first thing they do is stretch their muscles and adjacent structures. this with our companion animals, especially with cats and dogs and also with wild animals. This example is also a lesson for our athletes. Do not enter the football field without a preliminary warm-up, because the risk of a musculoskeletal injury is much higher. “
Is the person’s constitution important for sports?
‘Not important, very important. The different cultures of our beautiful blue planet have classified man in terms of its phenotype into asthenic, athletic and picnic people or Vata Pitta and Kapha in Ayurvedic medicine. It is absurd to ask a 600 to travel 200 kilometers per hour, because he is not prepared for it. Yes, it could be a Mercedes or a Formula 1 willing to drive more than 300 km per hour. Very rarely, if not ever, will we see a remarkably overweight person doing a marathon or playing on a first division soccer team, although there are other types of sports they can do, such as football, boxing, etc. That’s why we can practicing any sport does not go against our constitution. “
When we play sports, we cannot go against our constitution
“It is important to listen to our body at all times of our lives. When our body is satisfied with how we treat it, it is silent, silent, it does not say a beep, it does not speak. When our body speaks to us with symptoms (pain, nausea, vomiting, etc.), we have to ask ourselves what we are not doing right. “
Does nutrition play a role in the development of sports injuries?
“We live in a country privileged by our famous Mediterranean diet, considered by nutritionists to be one of the healthiest in the world. It is a balanced diet with lots of fruits and vegetables along with our olive oil and low animal fat. Years ago, the WHO warned us about the link between excess meat and the occurrence of oncological processes. ”
It has been scientifically proven that a Mediterranean diet based on organic foods with little fried food and alkalizing can dramatically reduce recurring sports injuries.
“Our ideal diet would be based on organic foods, as our markets are full of hybrid foods, foods, industrially processed foods, foods with refined sugars and containing herbicides and pesticides; glyphosate, for example, is already banned in the US because of its carcinogenic effect. In Catalonia, it is used by many farmers to grow organic and non-organic wheat, barley, oilseed rape, beans and peas. It has been scientifically proven that a Mediterranean diet based on organic food with little fried food and alkalizing can drastically reduce recurring sports injuries. “
What role can integrative medicine play in the treatment of injuries in elite athletes?
“In conventional medicine, the most commonly used treatment is sports physiotherapy, in addition to other treatments such as sports massage, infrared and electrotherapy. With regard to integrative medicine, depending on the type of lesions we find, our center can make use of: Neural therapy, because of its regulatory effect on the neurovegetative system; Bemer therapy or vascular therapy, which is a state-of-the-art therapy to normalize the blood flow of the obstructed microcapillaries and facilitate the supply of oxygen to the tissues; Infrared therapy for its great analgesic effect; chromotherapy or light therapy which, when applied to damaged areas, has a strong anti-analgesic and anti-inflammatory effect; Biomagnetism is a treatment with magnets of more than 1000 Gaus with an analgesic and restorative effect on the pH of the tissues as well as other therapies such as Bioresonance, Biophotherapy, Laser therapy, Acupuncture and local ozone therapy. These therapies can be applied to any type of sports injury and are perfectly compatible with those of conventional medicine and can be applied to elite athletes as if they were not. “
Can the emotional part affect sports performance?
“It has been proven that one in five athletes suffers from anxiety at some point in their career. Being away from family, not showing weakness or stress by the constant gaze of coaches, colleagues, the public, are the main reasons why athletes can lapse into oxidative stress, depressive and anxiolytic states, and not be perceived as physical by coaches. injuries that often go unnoticed and cause much suffering. Top athletes are even more exposed to this disease, because they constantly feel they have to perform at their best and are also exposed to the scrutiny of the press. For this reason, we consider the need for support these patients have during treatment. “
One in five athletes has been proven to suffer from anxiety at some point in their career.
“Because we were aware of the usefulness of other integration methods, we included Isabel Ruiz, a therapist who works with a personality diagnosis system, Digitoanalysis, to the team. By integrating this system into our center, we have not only made the treatments a success, but they have also meant a very positive change in the sports career and in the personal life of athletes. ”