Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao?s recurring leg cramps cannot be cured by endless massage therapy sessions but through modern musculoskeletal science procedures which involve the use of an infrared thermal scanner to identify the muscle causing the problem, according to Dr. Isagani Leal, the Philippines? leading sports doctor.
?The massage therapy sessions will relieve the pain temporarily but it will not solve the problem,? he explained to me Wednesday adding that through the infrared thermal scanner, the specific muscle causing the problem will be identified and isolated for musculoskeletal therapy.
?It will be very quick. Just one session with the infrared thermal scanner after which we will give the problem muscle with a dose of nature-based non-steroidal relaxant and five therapy sessions using laser and shortwave diathermy machines,? Dr. Leal said.
After the five sessions, Pacquiao could go back to intensive training without being bothered by the leg cramps again, he said.
Dr. Leal, who trained for four years in Tel Aviv?s Sheeba Medical Center on a Philippine government scholarship, said that while the orientation of musculoskeletal science studies and researches in Israel is for military application and purposes, the advancements made could greatly contribute to sports development in the Philippines.
?The beauty of the Israeli musculoskeletal technology is that it is non-invasive, no-incision, no suturing and nature-based and non-steroidal,? he said adding that the muscle relaxant he intends to administer on Pacquiao?s cramps-affected leg is nature-based and will pass the most stringent drug testing regimens.
?The basic idea is that the Israeli soldiers, who are mostly the patients in Tel Aviv, will be able to go back to their military assignments in the quickest possible time,? Dr. Leal said.
He said an Israel study conducted on African marathoners showed that while people living in low-altitude only have a few major veins in the extremities, the African runners would have at least more veins in their legs and arms.
Based on the conclusion that high-altitude training affects oxygen saturation, the Israelis have developed a machine called Hypo-Oxic Chamber which could be adjusted to simulate conditions in elevations higher than Baguio City, he said.
?With this machine, a boxer who wants to train in high-altitude does not have to go far to look for high elevations like Baguio City. All that you need to do is get inside the chamber which is about 5 square meters in size and then adjust the simulated altitude to your desired level,? Dr. Leal said.
?You want to train at 10,000 feet? 20,000 feet? You don?t have to pack your bags and look for the highest mountains. Just adjust the altitude simulator, get inside the chamber and exercise,? he added.
Dr. Leal, who is now deeply involved with sports medicine counting among his clients the whole track and field team of the Ateneo de Manila University, Talk and Text team members, the Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines boxers and other sports personalities, said along with the Hypo-Oxic chamber which would cost about P3-M, he intends to acquire two more sports machines which could greatly improve the skills level of Filipino athletes.
One of the machines is called Sports Vision, which is also like a small chamber where the athlete?s body reacts to the lights that flash to improve his physical responsiveness and reflexes and the other is a Hydrophysio machine which looks a treadmill, except that half of the athlete?s body is submerged in water as he does the exercises.
When I mentioned to him the failed world championship bid of our boxer, Lorenzo Villanueva of North Cotabato who gassed out after a spectacular first round where he floored and hurt his Indonesian opponent, Dr. Leal said each individual athlete must undergo thorough physiological examination.
?We really have to look at each athlete?s physiology. He must undergo blood test, ketons test, cardiac rate test, respiratory rate test and oxygen saturation test,? he said.
Villanueva must be thoroughly checked to determine what his body needs to increase his stamina and endurance, Dr. Leal said.
?When we understand what the athlete?s body needs, we can increase his performance level. If he runs only for 15 kilometers in one hour, we can help him improve that to 20 kilometers per hour,? he said.
Dr. Leal?s dream today is to be able to help not only musculoskeletal patients in the country but contribute to the improvement of sports in the Philippines by employing modern sports science.
?If our government, through the Philippine Sports Commission could acquire the Hypo-Oxic Chamber, the Hydro-Physio equipment and the Sports Vision chamber, then we could establish a musculoskeletal development center in the country which would serve not only our athletes but our military men and ordinary citizens as well,? he said.
On his own now, Dr. Leal has established a foundation trying to raise funds from the private sector to realize his dream of a musculoskeletal development center in the Philippines.
The mission is quite tough but for someone who worked as a hamburger joint waiter and a motel roomboy just to become a doctor, the dream does not really look impossible or even daunting at all.
