While France has just won hands down its very first match against Honduras (3-0), a medical controversy has just emerged around the package of Franck Ribéry, the favorite striker of the French team.
The player (better known for his legal troubles and his explosive temper than for his health concerns) had indeed refused to participate in the World Cup because of low back pain chronic: he is indeed suffering from an inflammation of an intervertebral disc in the bottom of the spine, which causes him intense back pain.
Problem: the International Football Federation (FIFA) announced on June 14 that Franck Ribéry refused to be treated by the doctor appointed to the French team , Franck Le Gall, who proposed an infiltration of cortisone, a hormone well known for its anti-inflammatory properties. According to the doctor, the refusal of Franck Ribéry would be motivated by a ” fear of the bite“(!) But the player has denied this explanation: he simply refuses to be treated with cortisone.
Boost brain oxygen
Suddenly, the striker turned to the official doctor of Bayern Munich, the German football team. And he administered a drug that is controversial today: Actovegin, a treatment based on deproteinized calf blood widely used across the Rhine.
Problem: this drug is also allegedly involved in a number of cases of doping. Indeed, it improves cerebral oxygenation by bringing oxygen in mass to the veins of the brain: it could therefore artificially boost blood loss. sports performance. Banned for sale in France and the United States, this drug is not however prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) …
However, during the Tour de France in 2000, pockets of Actovegin were found in the trash cans of Lance Armstrong’s team, which is now known to be doped. And, in 2006, the Spanish police also seized it during the dismantling of a vast network of blood doping … A medical controversy to follow.
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