Sports scientist: Real mistakes in Woodgate rehab
Real Madrid’s medical staff have failed in their rehabilitation of defender Jonathan Woodgate – that is the uncompromising opinion of leading Spanish sports scientist Jesus Rico-Sanz.
The former Real Madrid B player, who has spent over 20 years studying the physiology of players and how best to prepare them for matches believes Real, along with fellow Spanish giants Barcelona, are causing problems for themselves by not employing the best staff.
Woodgate is yet to make his debut for Real due to a torn thigh muscle that is likely to keep him out for another two months.
“At Real Madrid there was a mistake among the medical team,” he told PA International when asked about Madrid’s handling of Woodgate.
“You need a better structure that monitors the progress of a player during his recovery while also having knowledge, which they should already have, of what he can do when he is healthy.
“But they went for an unknown recovery timetable, put him back on the football pitch, and when he had to accelerate after a player he had to pull up.
“If they had known that he could not have accelerated at that speed then this could have been prevented.
“He should have been put on a field and made to do gradual repetitions involving different speeds, starting from being virtually stationery.
“Traditional systems see players running laps around a field at a certain speed but this does not expose the muscles which will be used on the pitch as players accelerate and then slow down.
“But these coaches can’t even see the mistake. This is frustrating for me, as I have developed a test to show at what point players get fatigued, and using this along with the alternating velocity you can say with a high level of probability when the player is ready.
“It is incredible to see what happened with Woodgate, when you think of the amount of knowledge that is available.
“But there is a chance that when he now comes back from his treatment in the United States that the same thing will happen again.
“The whole medical staff failed as they were unable to predict something which could have been prevented with an appropriate training programme. If things had been done properly he could have been brought back two or three weeks ago and I find this unacceptable for a team which calls itself the best in the world.”
Dr Rico-Sanz is also convinced that Michael Owen is suffering from a lack of support at the club.
“Michael Owen should not have to prove himself like he is trying to do, and so have the extra anxiety associated with this. If the player is not psychologically right then his performance is going to suffer,” he said.
“Real Madrid does not have a sports psychologist and to me it is an insult to that profession – the belief that you can bypass that expertise.”
