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MUNICH -- The celebrity sports doctor is holed up in an expansive clinic that has all the trappings of a fine art gallery, an airy, contemporary restoration taking up the second floor of Alte Hof -- a 12th century Gothic structure that served as the first imperial residence of Germany. These days, the entrance is a revolving door for top athletes and entertainers, from the world's fastest man, Usain Bolt, to U2 lead singer Bono, many having exhausted traditional medical avenues and finding their way here as a last resort.
They come to see the jovial Dr. Hans-Wilhelm Muller-Wohlfahrt, whose practice is a combination of power, glamour and secrecy. The doctor is well-preserved with floppy black locks and nearly unblemished skin. His birth certificate says he's 69, but he could pass for 20 years younger.
THE AMERICAN CONNECTION
Dr. Richard Steadman, founder of the Steadman Clinic in Vail, Colo., and Dr. Muller-Wohlfahrt share and refer high-profile patients back and forth across the Atlantic for surgery or non-surgical treatment. Story »
MAKING THE ROUNDS
The broad mix of people Dr. Muller-Wohlfahrt treated on a day last spring included a world-famous lion tamer, the editor of Cosmopolitan in Germany, a feisty 92-year-old woman, and the CEO of the Bayern Munich soccer club, as well as Olympic and world-champion athletes. Story »
THE GERMAN PHARMACY
Amid trendy dress shops and boutiques sits a small, nondescript pharmacy that is a source of Actovegin -- an extract from calf's blood that is not approved for use in either the United States or Canada but is used on athletes worldwide. Story »
Healing Hans, as Muller-Wohlfahrt is affectionately known, ranks as either the greatest healer since Hippocrates or is a quack with a hyperactive syringe, depending on whom you believe.
Over the years, the A-list of believers has run the gamut from tennis icon Boris Becker to soccer's Ronaldo to the late Italian opera tenor Luciano Pavarotti to seemingly every top German soccer player since Franz Beckenbauer four decades ago. The American followers, though late to the show and heavy on those traveling overseas to compete, have included sprinters Tyson Gay and Maurice Greene as well as bad-boy skier Bode Miller.
The American connection runs deeper, though. Muller-Wohlfahrt and the Vail, Colo.-based Steadman Clinic, a leading sports orthopedic group, enjoy a healthy patient-referral relationship. Muller-Wohlfahrt and Dr. Richard Steadman, the clinic's founder, also have a personal friendship of nearly three decades.
Muller-Wohlfahrt isn't an ordinary doctor, and his treatment methods at first blush sound dangerously primitive. Though conventionally trained in medicine and orthopedics, he practices a unique mixture of homeopathic medicine -- treatment with natural substances -- and acupuncture. The lifeblood of his treatments is what Muller-Wohlfahrt calls "infiltrations," in which homeopathic preparations and other substances are injected into the injury site: exotic stuff like Actovegin, an amino acid preparation derived from calves' blood, and lubricating substances containing purified hyaluronic acid and antioxidants.
Muller-Wohlfahrt, who rarely grants media interviews, says he has administered "far beyond" a million such injections through the years, at least half to athletes.
Injecting patients with loaded syringes of Actovegin (pronounced: act-o-VEE-gin) is viewed suspiciously in many global outposts and, while not banned, the substance remains on the radar of sports anti-doping bodies. Actovegin is not approved for use in either the United States or Canada. Of late, it's been in the news as central to the U.S. criminal case against Toronto-based sports doctor Anthony Galea, who has pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of bringing unapproved substances, specifically Actovegin and human growth hormone, into the United States. Galea faces up 12 to 18 months' imprisonment at sentencing on Friday.
FULL ARTICLE (good read)
http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/...active-syringe
They come to see the jovial Dr. Hans-Wilhelm Muller-Wohlfahrt, whose practice is a combination of power, glamour and secrecy. The doctor is well-preserved with floppy black locks and nearly unblemished skin. His birth certificate says he's 69, but he could pass for 20 years younger.
THE AMERICAN CONNECTION
Dr. Richard Steadman, founder of the Steadman Clinic in Vail, Colo., and Dr. Muller-Wohlfahrt share and refer high-profile patients back and forth across the Atlantic for surgery or non-surgical treatment. Story »
MAKING THE ROUNDS
The broad mix of people Dr. Muller-Wohlfahrt treated on a day last spring included a world-famous lion tamer, the editor of Cosmopolitan in Germany, a feisty 92-year-old woman, and the CEO of the Bayern Munich soccer club, as well as Olympic and world-champion athletes. Story »
THE GERMAN PHARMACY
Amid trendy dress shops and boutiques sits a small, nondescript pharmacy that is a source of Actovegin -- an extract from calf's blood that is not approved for use in either the United States or Canada but is used on athletes worldwide. Story »
Healing Hans, as Muller-Wohlfahrt is affectionately known, ranks as either the greatest healer since Hippocrates or is a quack with a hyperactive syringe, depending on whom you believe.
Over the years, the A-list of believers has run the gamut from tennis icon Boris Becker to soccer's Ronaldo to the late Italian opera tenor Luciano Pavarotti to seemingly every top German soccer player since Franz Beckenbauer four decades ago. The American followers, though late to the show and heavy on those traveling overseas to compete, have included sprinters Tyson Gay and Maurice Greene as well as bad-boy skier Bode Miller.
The American connection runs deeper, though. Muller-Wohlfahrt and the Vail, Colo.-based Steadman Clinic, a leading sports orthopedic group, enjoy a healthy patient-referral relationship. Muller-Wohlfahrt and Dr. Richard Steadman, the clinic's founder, also have a personal friendship of nearly three decades.
Muller-Wohlfahrt isn't an ordinary doctor, and his treatment methods at first blush sound dangerously primitive. Though conventionally trained in medicine and orthopedics, he practices a unique mixture of homeopathic medicine -- treatment with natural substances -- and acupuncture. The lifeblood of his treatments is what Muller-Wohlfahrt calls "infiltrations," in which homeopathic preparations and other substances are injected into the injury site: exotic stuff like Actovegin, an amino acid preparation derived from calves' blood, and lubricating substances containing purified hyaluronic acid and antioxidants.
Muller-Wohlfahrt, who rarely grants media interviews, says he has administered "far beyond" a million such injections through the years, at least half to athletes.
Injecting patients with loaded syringes of Actovegin (pronounced: act-o-VEE-gin) is viewed suspiciously in many global outposts and, while not banned, the substance remains on the radar of sports anti-doping bodies. Actovegin is not approved for use in either the United States or Canada. Of late, it's been in the news as central to the U.S. criminal case against Toronto-based sports doctor Anthony Galea, who has pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of bringing unapproved substances, specifically Actovegin and human growth hormone, into the United States. Galea faces up 12 to 18 months' imprisonment at sentencing on Friday.
FULL ARTICLE (good read)
http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/...active-syringe
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