Source: Manchester_EveningNews
The Doc's old-school medicine
IN the age of modern medical sophistication, it seems like a throw-back to the dark ages. But the injured Robin van Persie intends to do all he can to get back into action for Arsenal as soon as possible - including a radical treatment that involves massage using fluid from a placenta. The Arsenal striker, who has partially torn ankle ligaments, revealed: "I will fly to the Balkans to meet with a female doctor who helped [PSV Eindhoven midfielder] Danko Lazovic. "She is vague about her methods but I know she massages you using fluid from a placenta. I am going to try. It cannot hurt and, if it helps, it helps." Van Persie may even have had the treatment recommended by City stars Pablo Zabaleta, Vincent Kompany and Nigel De Jong, who are all rumoured to have tried it out. Not that the Arsenal striker was making many friends on his last visit to Eastlands. It may seem curious now but, in 1960, Tommy Docherty broke his leg playing for Chelsea against Arsenal and was told to wear a pair of army boots for eight weeks to aid his recovery. The Doc said: "I was told to run in the army boots in order to build up my leg and ankle. Seaside "I was also told by the trainer in those days to get myself to the seaside and use the salt water. "When I played for Scotland we had a trainer who would run on and simply say `get up, there's not a thing wrong with you'. We had to be tough back then." Tommy Gore, who captained Wigan Athletic in their non-league days, remembers how just a solitary heat lamp and a bottle of olive oil were used to treat the walking wounded at the old Springfield Park ground. Gore said: "Duncan Colquhoun was the old physio. He would have a cigarette hanging from the side of his mouth. The ash would drop on your leg as he treated you and he'd rub it in, your leg would go black but it seemed to work whatever the problem was." Fred Eyre who played for City swore by the old wives tale in Blackley of using comfrey leaves to treat any footballing injury. Fred said: "They swore by it. You would pack your ankle with a nettle mix and the job was a good one. "I remember being at Lincoln City when wax baths were advised for leg and ankle injuries. After about an hour you were encased in wax and looked like a human candle. "In non-league football circles there were all sorts of weird and wonderful method used to treat injury. Bill Bennett at Chorley was known as the man with magic hands. Players used to roll up at his house when he was watching Z-Cars and he'd take you into his box room and work the injury. "There was also Jack `Thumbs' Kershaw at Rossendale, who also had a great reputation." Former Blackburn Rovers star David Hamilton grew up in the North East. "Whenever we were kicked or we were limping we were simply told to stamp our foot on the ground. I don't know why, we just did it. When I was at Burnley, Jimmy Holland was very much a hands-on physio. The players loved him, he had his own way but boy did it work." Bruce Rioch underwent four cartilage operations and also fractured his ankles. On one occasion he got so fed up of the cast, he woke up in the night brought out a hacksaw and removed it. Bruce said: "The living room was covered in dust. I went into work the following day and I was sent to the hospital for another." On another occasion, Rioch broke his wrist and had to go to a factory in Walsall for them to replicate a cast allowing him to play at the weekend. [LNB]
