Marco Scorcu, vice-president of the Federation of Sports Doctors and Cagliari doctor, shared in ‘La Gazzetta dello Sport’ his particular theory on the use of wristbands by Barcelona players that was already commented on in MARCA by Dr Niko Mihic, former Real Madrid doctor.
I do not see, nor do I want to glimpse, a second purpose
“Absolutely not. I don’t see any hidden motives. Also because, let’s be clear, there are so many venous accesses,” said the Cagliari doctor, who also stressed that “if someone had something to hide, why would they use the wrist or hand and then show such an obvious bandage when they could easily do it in less visible areas of the body? And above all, once that venous access has been used, as happens in blood tests, after half an hour the protection is no longer necessary.”
I think he’s more of a superstitious player than an intravenous injection
“We are talking about clubs and federations with very strict protocols; it is more logical to attribute it all to a question of superstition than to something related to venous access. I mean it, I think it is more a superstitious player because he scored with a bandage and therefore wants to keep it even after the disease, than an intravenous injection,” said Scorcu on why Barcelona players play with wristbands.
Regarding the usefulness behind a certain type of bandaging on the hands and wrists by footballers, he believes that they are “only to facilitate the healing of a previous pathology. I do not see, nor do I want to see, a second purpose”.
“I had two who did it regularly for wrist sprains. Goalkeepers do it all the time, as they are used to overloading that part of the body and suffer numerous traumas to the wrists. Sometimes the bandage remains even after the problem has been resolved, but I always describe it as a pathology in that area,” he explained.
Niko Mihic on bandages: “If you want to have easier venous access, it’s on the wrists”
Niko Mihic, who was Real Madrid’s chief medical officer for seven years, told Miguel Angel Garcia in MARCA about thetendency of the wrist strapping worn by Barcelona footballers that “it could be that they are designing strategy games, playing a lot of table football and tendinitis… in the same way that it could be that they have not bribed Negreira. I don’t know what is going on, but what I want to say is that any doctor knows that, if you want to have easier venous access, it is in the hands and wrists.”
“I don’t understand why they are doing it and let them deny it. Let them say ‘no’, but show me what you are doing. What’s the secret? It’s not for playing table football, is it?”, he said.
Mihic said: “I don’t believe in fashion. I believe that a player does not play with a device that designs an injury, a deficiency, if it is not to do something with it, it is not because it is more handsome.”
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