“All medicine is aimed at avoiding injuries, it is something that can be prevented”

Wednesday, October 12, 2022 | 3:30 a.m.

He was born in La Plata, but the red earth is in his blood. Her father is a missionary and lives in Posadas, which is why he frequents these parts quite a bit. Before answering the questions, she kindly asks for a few minutes to attend a consultation via WhatsApp from star tennis player Juan Martín del Potro, one of his regular patients.

Alejandro Rolón (54) is a radiologist and before embarking on his fifth World Cup, he was in Misiones as a speaker in the framework of the Medical and Health Olympics, which started on Sunday and conclude this Saturday.

On Monday, Rolón was the leading figure in the symposium held at the Knowledge Center. “Value of diagnostic imaging” was the name of his exhibition, through which he went through different cases of his career to share treatments and reflections.

The specialist in Musculoskeletal Imaging Diagnosis is the director of Himan, a diagnostic center specializing in trauma and sports, and also provides services in the Imaxe Sports and Traumatology area.

Meanwhile, the following month all attention will be on Lionel Messi and the albiceleste team, since he is the second doctor of the Argentine soccer team. The health of Leo and other figures, such as Ángel Di María and Paulo Dybala, recently injured (see More supplement) will be in his hands.

“My dad is from Posadas and although I haven’t lived with him since I was very young, I have always come and yesterday – on Monday – I was surprised to see how beautiful Posadas is and the packed auditorium,” he comments by way of introduction letter in the interview with El Territory, on the first floor of the Hotel Urbano.

How did you get so involved with professional sports?

I trained at the Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires as a radiologist specializing in Diagnostic Imaging. In a moment I transformed my formation. From the combination of resonance and ultrasound I began to develop this musculoskeletal subspecialty that in the year 98 was to find a new modality. Today it is a very clear way of working on a specialty, but through all methods by image. Now it is not the sonographer who plays the kidney, pregnancy or muscle, but rather they see the knee with the most subtle method and be able to handle all methods.

From that sports training and with ultrasound as the first spear, I have been getting more and more into the medical sports world because most of the injuries that afflict everyone are nerves due to muscle injury. It is a big problem and very difficult due to the level of demand that high-performance sport has.

Is there a percentage that represents muscle injury in high-performance sports or amateur sports?

It varies according to the sport, but in football I think it is close to 30%. There is a statistic from Uefa (European Football Union) two years ago that caused an economic loss of 200 million euros per year due to sick leave or sick leave due to muscle injury. Although we have it more and more under control, it is an injury that, due to higher levels of demand and greater frequency of matches, continues to be elusive.

Women’s volleyball in full swing at the Medical Olympics. Photo: MATÍAS PERALTA

When there is a cruciate ligament injury, there are six months that you cannot play. Instead, muscle injury limits you for less time. Kinesiologists are a fundamental piece in the medical structure.

How is the National Team medical team made up?

We are a team of nine professionals, the main one is a sports traumatologist. We started as a kinesiologist, two doctors and a masseur and that’s how they were added. Today four or five doctors, a nutritionist and a masseur are going to the World Cup, there are probably ten of us.

I have been in the National Team as the second doctor since 2006, Qatar will be my fifth World Cup.

Are kinesiology sessions held every day or only in specific cases?

Almost every day and a lot of it. They vary because they come with some previous pain, usually tendinous or muscular. There is a rotation with six stretchers arranged on each trip.

We take care of preparing ice baths for recoveries. I have a portable ultrasound machine. We have two cooks-waiters, a barber, several journalists and someone who is in charge of the networks. This delegation also has its indigestion or pain and I am available as a second doctor, among the general tasks. I also go to doping, which is more administrative, solve the ice and hydration of the players, I do the resonances and ultrasounds, or the interventional procedures.

Infiltrating a player with different biological therapy substances, such as rich plasma or an anesthetic before playing, is a common practice and is done with an ultrasound to be 100% accurate. That whole part is up to me.

A critical moment would be to recommend rest or a break in activity. Did it happen to you?

Yes, it is unavoidable. The head of the team is Daniel Martínez and between the two of us we made a diagnostic-therapeutic decision. There is a very close link with the coaching staff, the medical staff and the players.

When do you travel to Qatar?

We are still not clear, I calculate that the first days of November. As there are many injuries these days, I don’t know what the distribution is like to get there. I think we are not in Argentina. I do know that there is a game around November 10 in Qatar. You have to leave the entire area previously prepared for when the players arrive.

What key tool does he carry? The portable ultrasound…

In Brazil and Russia, an ultrasound company lent me a unique resonator and I had the possibility of taking it to Qatar, but due to logistical reasons it did not happen. We still have figured out where to do the MRIs there, that’s why I’m not going to travel before. There are already a couple of kinesiologists who are with the players from the clubs.

The dates of the international tournaments are very tight, so we are not very clear. On November 16 we play against the United Arab Emirates, so by that date we will already be there.

Are there any recommendations revolving around what to do and what not to do 48 hours before the game? Some time ago (Daniel) Passarella forbade them to have sex before playing…

Almost all of them are myths. The players are hyper-professionals, they don’t give anything away. I, who have been here for many years, see that each time they have become more professional. It is very healthy, otherwise it would not reach these levels. It implies being intelligent, disciplined, orderly in eating, in everything. I can’t imagine the need to stay two days and leave.

In addition, we have a leader, of whom there is not much to say because it is all known, Messi is a positive leader. He gets up early, he goes to the gym.

Is Messi very disciplined?

He is very disciplined, otherwise he would not be where he is.

Do you also work with other professional athletes?

In my professional life I attend a lot, it’s not just about the national team, which is when I travel or now that I’ve been in the World Cup for a month and a half. I have my center with a group that performs musculoskeletal diagnosis and I have been attending a large part of professional sports in Argentina for many years: soccer, rugby, tennis clubs. Almost the entire group participates in hockey and volleyball. In all sports I have had luck and pride. I have had to be in the final of the US Open that Del Potro invited me when he played with Djokovic, or when Nalbandián invited me to the match he beat Federer in Madrid in 2006.

For many years I have been closely linked to high-performance sports. This thing that God is Argentine but he attends in Buenos Aires is true. Sport is not a minor leg and the results of our country in sports performance have been seen, taking out football, which is a different phenomenon.

Luckily, more and more sports are being done and today medicine is aimed at avoiding injury.

Can injuries be prevented?

When the body is not prepared for the intensity that is being asked of it, it injures itself; apart from fortuitous situations such as a fracture. Tears, tendonitis and there are many joint injuries such as cruciate ligaments, which can be avoided with a previous care program. Heading in youth sections is now to be avoided.

I believe that a series of activities will be added to strengthen sectors that, when one did not strengthen as a child, suffers as an adult. A recreational athlete, who does not stretch and does not do a pre-competitive exercise to start the activity, is very likely to be injured.

What injuries require surgery?

Ligament tears, meniscus fractures, shoulder instability. Surgical indication is not so mathematical in all cases, but today prevention, biological therapies and kinesiologists maintain adequate health or recovery from sports injuries.

When a soccer player retires due to an injury, does he have consequences for the rest of his life?

I’ve been in sports for 30 years and I caught the backlash of those from ’86; I also attended to (Gabriel) Batistuta. And prevention has been changing a lot and avoiding improper medical practices such as infiltration with corticosteroids, because misused is very harmful to the joints, has made high-performance post-sports much better. Before, almost all players had knee or hip replacements, or lived with joint pain.

Today a high-performance athlete, (Javier) Mascherano or (Pablo) Zabaleta, do not suffer from those post-retirement muscle pains.

Was there a maturity in that aspect?

Yes, more towards prevention. The images that are used when the injury is seen we see with preventive aspects. Today one of the things we see most is muscle overload and diagnosing it often prevents a tear from occurring. Working with clinical-imaging criteria is probably an injury that in two or three days of differentiated work allows the muscle or tendon to return to normal.

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