Dr. Giner talks injury treatment and training methods

Antonio Giner, the Medical Director of the VCF Academy, gave an insight into his work at the club in an interview with VCF Media Radio on Tuesday.

In his chat, he spoke about the challenges of his job, how the club supports his staff, and how developments in technology allow them to work more effectively.

Progress in treatment

 “I’ve been here for a long time and the medical team have been adapting and evolving with the club -just like medicine has been developing during this time. Nowadays we have an advantage, which is that we have much more exhaustive knowledge of footballers. We know how many kilometres they run in a game, the speed at which they do it, how they accelerate and jump… we know everything, and we can act and prevent injuries. We see which muscle groups are most exposed and carry out all our preventative work under Miguel Alonso, the fitness coach who organises that aspect.”

How the medical service has changed over time.

“Medicine is a science that is continually evolving. In the end, we have to always be learning, educating ourselves and trying to make sure that the VCF Academy is always up to date with medicine.”

The most frequent injuries

“On the one hand we have trauma injuries, which are all the knocks and contact injuries which are produced. Then we have indirect injuries, which are the sprains and strains that are habitual in football. At the VCF Academy we have the handicap that we work with players who are in the development and growth stage, so we have to control those injuries and make sure that the players can keep growing as players and as people. There are also illnesses, which we have to diagnose in time and prevent. There are players who have come here at 1.2 metres tall, and at the end of their development they reach 1.8 metres. That conditions us in a way, and it makes us work in a special way with these types of players.”

The process for serious injuries

“What we try to do is make a fast diagnosis, find out the extent 100% and then immediately start with treatment. At the same time, what we do at the VCF Academy is control nutrition, so that during the injury process body composition isn’t affected too much and muscle mass isn’t lost. Then we do re-adaptation work so that they are in better shape and can rejoin the training sessions in a gradual way, without any problems.”

What makes the VCF Academy special

“The difference compared to other academies is the group that we have working here, and the complete support of the management -Sean Bai, Marco Otero, Luis Martínez and Sergio Ventosa- who help us both with material and human resources so that we can carry out our work. The VCF Academy also stands out for the treatment of the players, who always feel supported. The VCF Academy motto is ‘We train players, we educate people.’ The medical team are in complete agreement with this.”

The connection with the players

“I feel proud of every player when they recover. It’s very nice to see a player who has been through surgery and those first days of painful rehab well again. There are many players whom I have treated, because we have the negative side of injuries being the worst time for a player, but we are supported by a psychology department at the VCF Academy and everything helps. The best thing is seeing footballers play again normally.”