"You can only make a mistake once": Dynamo doctor on disputes with coaches, simulation, funny cases and the loss of Yardoshvili

"In a tough junction, surprise is the worst of all"

- You have an unusual tradition of celebrating goals scored by splashing water.

Where does it originate from?

- It was in 2015 at Kairat.

At first I was a "drinker", that is, I gave water to the players during the breaks of matches.

And one day after the goal he poured a fountain of water on the player.

After a couple of minutes we scored more.

I repeated my actions.

As a result, we won with a large score - 3: 1 or 4: 1.

After the meeting, I completely forgot about it.

And on the next game after scoring the ball, the guys tell me: “Come on, water!”.

And so it became a habit.

- Have the coaches ever resented?

- No, sometimes you will drench the coach, and it will fly to the assistant referee.

Everyone just laughs.

The youth team actively supports my enthusiasm.

This is also emotional release.

- Sometimes such detente is expensive

- Yeah.

I was removed in Ufa after a goal by Sebastian Shimanski for shouting an obscene word too loudly.

I still regret it.

The assistant heard, said to the chief, and he “turned on the red light”.

I didn't even understand why.

It was not an appeal to an opponent, but simply a cry from the heart.

Therefore, in one match I was outside the sports zone.

- How do you perceive the hard joints on the field?

- I am very worried, because I understand that they can take a football player out of the game for a long time or lead to surgical intervention.

When a person does not have time to reach the ball and all he has to do is to foul roughly, you internally ask him to stop.

If the episode nevertheless happened, then you are very angry with the person.

Because you understand the possible consequences better than others.

And here it does not matter who and what card will earn, whether there will be a deletion.

- So you don't live with the emotions of the game?

- Of course, I'm rooting for my team. But I want everything to remain within the permissible stiffness. There should not be rough, dastardly fouls when the attack comes from the back or from behind, because in this case the opponent does not see you and does not have time to group when falling or soften the contact by removing his legs. Suddenness is the worst thing in this situation. If you are not ready, the likelihood of serious injury increases. For example, a fractured collarbone. Once there was a very unpleasant episode: Vanya Ordets, after contact with an opponent, lost his balance and fell directly on the sensor, which the players have during the game on the cervical spine. There was a concussion. We immediately ran out to him, without waiting for the judge's signal. Vanya lies in prostration. He has a painful shock. He says he can't feel his hands. And you already have all sorts of options running through your head,what kind of injury can be. Thank God, they quickly brought him to his senses, and it turned out to be just a concussion, without fractures and displacements, the spinal cord was not affected. But the player's severe injury bothered him for about two and a half weeks.

• © FC Dynamo

"In medicine, as in a car service - a cold war is being waged"

- At the end of the first half of the match of the 18th round of the RPL "Dynamo" - "Zenith" Wendel received an injury to the back of the thigh and, when leaving the field, very violently gesticulated towards his own bench.

Could such a reaction follow to the doctors who allowed him to be released on the field?

- I don't want to say something negative about my colleagues.

The one who does nothing is not mistaken.

However, we all watched the Champions League match against Chelsea and saw Wendel get replaced due to hip problems.

Perhaps, even before the meeting with Dynamo, he was worried about pain, and the Brazilian did not want to enter the field, but he was released anyway.

Still, the most important confrontation.

I do not exclude that later he will regret his words.

Emotions played a role.

- Do footballers often communicate with doctors in a raised voice?

- Both the doctor and the player must comply with ethics.

Everyone does their own thing.

If you want to talk in a raised voice, don't do it in public.

And so, anything can happen.

You start to explain something to a football player, but he does not understand or does not want to understand.

Each player worries about his health and, first of all, about his legs, since this is his means of earning, a weapon.

However, there will never be conflicts if the doctor explains in detail what to do and what the violation of the regime threatens.

They are adequate people.

I have not yet met football players who preferred to do everything their own way.

It never came to open conflicts.

- If the player does not agree with the diagnosis, can he make an examination on the side?

- Many footballers change the league and clubs, so we do not always know the whole medical history.

If an athlete is injured and wants to consult a doctor from the previous club, we never refuse.

We transmit information about the damage, we will consult.

It happened a couple of times.

However, the diagnoses coincided, and we continued the treatment.

Sometimes there may be wishes for the surgeon's choice.

For example, a football player was operated on twice by the same doctor, received a new injury and asks to be referred to him.

There is logic, so we fly to him.

- Do they often come to you with a request to correct the mistake of another doctor?

- Rather, not correct the mistake, but slightly correct, prescribe treatment so that it is more effective.

Or consult whether everything is being done correctly.

In Russia, unfortunately, it is in the mentality that if you paid the money for an appointment, treatment should immediately help.

Even when it comes to a cut, which usually bothers seven days.

And a person expects that he will immediately pass.

And if it hurts in the morning, the doctor is to blame.

We must go to another.

Of course, sometimes it happens that the doctor did not see everything, did not complete the diagnosis.

We are all living people.

- Do sports doctors compete with each other?

- We have such a thing as a cold war.

In medicine, as in a car service, doctors try to "entice" the patient with the words: "I'd rather give an injection, I'd better take a look.

It seems to me that he prescribed the wrong pill for you. "

This, unfortunately, is present.

Not to emphasize, but this is the blackest side of our sports medicine. 

It is not very ethical when they convince a patient: “He prescribed the wrong treatment for you.

Do as I tell you, but don't tell him. "

- How to deal with this?

- No way.

You just need to do your job correctly, honestly and not stoop to this level.

Then everything will be fine.

“But do you know who does this?

- Oh sure.

But there are more honest and decent specialists.

• © FC Dynamo

"If we had pricked Shimanski, it is not known how it would have ended during the match."

- You work both in the club and in the youth team of Russia.

How is it possible to combine?

- I would not say that it is hard when professionals work next to you.

I was lucky: both in Dynamo and in the youth team we have just such people.

They know perfectly well what and when to do.

If I leave for the national team, Mikhail Malyshev remains in the club.

There are no secrets between us, every day, an hour and a half before the arrival of the team, we discuss the scope of work, who is injured, who is worth paying attention to.

The most important thing is that the head coach and the club are okay with combining.

Nobody is indignant, on the contrary, everyone thinks that this is a plus for Dynamo.

At the same time, in the youth team, the coaches are in a position.

They understand that I can be pulled out of the club on some issues.

However, both for the national team and for Dynamo it is important that the work is done accurately and everything remains under control.

The rest is secondary. 

- Did you have to argue with the coaches?

- Certainly.

- If Schwartz said that he needed Shimanski in the game with Zenit, what would you say?

- We did our best.

But in the pre-game training, it was clear: Sebastian is not ready to do the job 100%.

Sandro Schwartz is a “golden man” in this regard.

If he sees that the player cannot, he will never go to the doctor and say: "Let's inject an anesthetic, and we will tell him that everything is nonsense and you can play."

On the contrary, he tries to avoid risk, does not escalate the situation.

If we had pricked Shimanski, it is not known how it would have ended in the course of the match.

He would not fully feel his ankle and, upon landing on his leg, he could have received a more serious injury.

Physicians in sports medicine are like sappers.

You can only make a mistake once.

After a failure, the attitude towards you changes.

First of all, within the team.

You said it’s okay, but the player is injured.

And that's bad for you.

- But there are other coaches?

- Yes.

Sometimes you have to prove your case.

Most of the debate is about muscles.

Any overexertion is fraught with serious injuries, as we can see from the situation with Wendel.

When I worked at Lokomotiv, we had a footballer who was constantly experiencing problems with the back of the thigh.

It cramped her with prolonged training or intense exertion.

After the match, he could not study for three or four days.

And the coach needed him in the squad.

And every time we took risks.

He went out on the field, and after the game he complained: "That's it, a nightmare, again a muscle contracted."

- The case when you had to convince the coach that you were right?

- Yes.

You come to a person, and he insists: “Let's do something else with him.

I take responsibility.

If anything, let them present a complaint to me. "

But the player will not do this, everyone will be to blame.

First you compromise, then you say to yourself: “Stop!

You can not do it this way".

We need a full recovery cycle.

Thank God, the coach also understands that if you put an unfinished football player on the field, he does not show his maximum.

By the way, then, after a pause, the same player came out and immediately scored.

And he is happy and you feel good.

- Does the doctor experience anxiety during the match if he is not sure that the player is one hundred percent healthy?

- Yes, you are nervous until the very end of the meeting or until it is replaced.

Until you come up and ask if everything is fine.

Only when you hear a positive answer, it lets you go, all the adrenaline goes away and the devastation remains.

Unfortunately, such episodes do occur.

- Do you react more sharply to injuries in the national team?

- We have always had a complete understanding with the coaching staff. Take, for example, the situation with Konstantin Kuchaev. Before leaving for Euro, he arrived at the location of the national team with an injury. We immediately explained: “Now there is muscle damage. Small, but it limits it. The footballer will not be able to give all his best in training, but we will do our best and the day before submitting the application, we will say yes or no. " The headquarters was loyal to this. We did what we could. Kostya started work, but did not have time to recover completely. Then they approached the coach and explained that he is not our assistant.

- Do the players conceal resentment?

- Not.

Kostya, of course, was upset, but he understood everything.

A few days were really not enough for us.

We even thought that we would be in time not by the first game, but by the second, third.

But this reasoning is from the category “maybe”.

Remember Alexander Mostovoy.

He went to the 2002 World Cup with a muscle injury, but he never entered the field and, possibly, took someone else's place.

And with us another person got a chance to speak, and he used it.

For Arsen Zakharyan, I think this invitation was a great incentive to develop further.

Then he was invited to the main team.

- Could Zakharyan compete at Euro 2020 based on his condition?

- If not for angina, then yes.

He would be in the bid.

• © FC Dynamo

"The second profession is a family doctor"

- Is winter football additional stress for a doctor?

- In the bowl of the stadium that day it was -6 ° C (meaning the match between Dynamo and Zenit in the 18th round

).

My opinion: football should be played in freezing temperatures.

From a medical point of view, frost is a double stress for the body: both for the muscular system and for the respiratory system.

First, there is hypothermia of the lungs and mucous membranes.

Anyway, it's easy to catch a cold in such weather.

Especially footballers wearing boots made of lightweight materials.

Colds, pneumonia, hypothermia of the extremities, prostatitis originate from here.

Secondly, there is a high likelihood of muscle damage.

If the player is not 100% ready, the problems can be exacerbated by the cold and cause injury.

- Is there a protocol on how to dress in subzero temperatures?

- Yes, but it is advisory in nature.

We buy thermal underwear, self-heating insoles for boots.

During the break, all football players must wear dry clothes to maintain thermoregulation.

But the player can say that he is uncomfortable in leggings, they hinder movement during feints.

Then we connect additional funds.

In addition to warming up in the hall, we ask the masseur to use warming ointments to further enhance blood circulation.

- Are baths with ice already superfluous in this weather?

- We put the player in cold water to prevent injury.

But here he is already hypothermic, and there will be no benefit to the joints, only harm.

Add to one stress the second.

If you have problems with your knee, you can simply roll on ice.

It's enough.

And after a cold bath, the footballer will get sick, you then have to treat him.

It is clear that now they will have time to recover, but I want everyone to go to rest healthy.

But the calls did not start: "Doc, I have a temperature of 39, what should I do?"

- Does this happen often?

- 24 hours 7 days a week.

When you work as a sports doctor, you have a second profession - family doctor.

This is no longer a secret to anyone.

A player, coach, club employee can contact, and you should always be ready to help.

And not only to him, but also to his wife, parents, children.

Of course, everyone tries to stay educated and polite, not to call at two in the morning if they just have a headache.

But there are such cases.

Especially when foreigners come.

They find themselves in a stressful situation.

They don't know who to turn to, and first of all they will write to you, even if it's just stomach problems.

Sometimes I have to travel.

"There was an internal organizational failure in Samara"

- What is the most unusual story that happened in your career?

- 2008.

I worked at Nizhny Novgorod.

He was a doctor, but during the match he did not run out on the field, he followed the game at the exit from the under-stands.

It so happened that the doctor forgot to put a new freezer spray in the bag.

The player gets hit on the legs.

Lies.

It hurts him.

The doctor is undermined and realizes: he has an empty canister.

Then he presses the button, pretending to splatter.

And he himself makes a sound "Pshshsh ..."

He is in pain, but has difficulty holding back his laughter.

The whole shop is hysterical.

As a result, the man ran to play further.

We won, but then we laughed for a long time about this.

- Have you ever injected a placebo?

- There was a case at the academy in Nizhny Novgorod. The teenager was constantly in pain. Because if mom and dad want to raise an athlete, but you don’t need it, you start looking for options on how to mow. And so, he comes to me again with a complaint about his knee. There is a lot of time before training - we went to do an x-ray. The knee is okay. Thinking what to do. I decided to inject an aqueous solution. We were then supervised by the referee Igor Egorov, who is also from Nizhny Novgorod. I tell the guy: “Look, there is such a unique remedy. Igor Vyacheslavovich uses it, and specially brought it for himself from Europe. It costs like your dad's car. He usually needs two injections, and then all the pains go away. Takes medicine before important matches. I'll make one for you, eat your afternoon snack and you can play. But do not tell anyone!". He believed. Got an injection, I look at him in the evening - he runs,trains, scored the ball, the next day goes happy. After that, by the way, he did not contact me anymore.

- Do footballers often invent injuries?

- Lately, this has not happened in my career.

This happens if there is a misunderstanding with the coach.

I have never seen a footballer just “mow”.

It happens only because of emotional impulses.

However, I always say directly: there is no need to solve your problems through us.

If something doesn't suit you, talk to your coach.

Go and tell him honestly.

You can't cross the line here.

I deal only with health.

- Do you understand if a player simulates on the field?

- Yes.

When I run up to him.

If they pretend, they immediately say that they just want to rest, breathe for 30 seconds. You say: "Ok!"

- Do you do any manipulations while doing this?

- It's not obligatory.

I don’t understand at all when doctors randomly fill a person with water or freeze, even after hard joints.

First you need to find out from the footballer what hurts.

If it's a muscle, there is no point in freezing it.

It's just a waste of material.

And if there is a bruise or a problem with the joint, you need to do a couple of minimal tests.

Is there any point in freezing your leg if the crosses are torn or the ankle is flying?

You will always be given 20-30 seconds to conduct a survey, if it is not an unconscious state.

- The worst injury that happened before your eyes?

- Dynamo played against Ural in July 2017.

Sebastian Holmen and Samba Sow collided heads in the air at full speed.

The Swede hit the Malian in the temporal zone and he could not come to his senses for a long time.

There was retrograde amnesia.

- Can the players diagnose themselves on the field?

- Usually they always go to the doctor.

Even if it hurts a lot, they hope that you will look and say: “It's okay.

Let's run away now. "

- A wild story happened in Samara, when a man died on the podium.

How could this happen?

- There was some kind of internal organizational failure.

I would not like a repetition.

I have had similar cases, but with epileptic seizures.

I remember playing with Tambov in the FNL.

In the first half behind our bench, the man felt bad.

But in that episode, the stewards worked quickly.

They started calling doctors.

We immediately ran off the bench.

The reserve saw, passed on to the chief, he stopped the match.

We provided first aid and called an ambulance.

And in Samara ... something went wrong in the work of the relevant services.

At such events, there are always medical teams who help directly to the audience.

At VTB-Arena, for example, there are several medical centers where fans can turn to, even if they just got drunk.

By the way, remember how quickly the doctors worked at Euro 2020, when Christian Eriksen became ill on the field.

They quickly pulled out defibrillators and restored the heart rhythm, preventing it from completely stopping.

We managed to start it.

However, in such situations, if one mechanism stumbles, an irreversible process takes place.

"Yardoshvili just left for the day off and never returned"

- 2021 was a difficult year for Russian sports.

Many good and famous people have passed away ...

- Yes, we lost our beloved doctor and my mentor Alexander Yardoshvili.

I don’t know about world football, but for Russian football, this is a significant figure.

He was known in other leagues and in other sports.

A lot of guys turned to him.

This is an unexpected and tragic loss, which was not foreshadowed by anything.

Went away for the weekend and never came back.

- How hard was it then to take everything into your own hands?

- The most difficult thing was emotional.

Technically, he and I did not have a division into chief and subordinate, which I am now advocating.

In fact, I am the head doctor of the club, but Malyshev is on a par with me.

I don't command them.

Everything is open and accessible with us.

He knows what to do.

It was the same with Eduardich.

Therefore, it was technically simple, but emotionally it was very difficult.

Oklemalsya only a month and a half ago.

I realized that he was no longer there and that I would somehow have to live on.

The first one and a half to two months I came to work and thought: maybe this is a dream?

We had a custom that I came to the base earlier.

And so, you sit in the room, drink coffee, and by the hum from the elevator shaft you realize that Eduardych is coming.

He was very emotional and open, communicating with almost everyone he met along the way.

Then the elevator door opened, and his unique baritone was heard throughout the entire corridor.

The thought flashed through my head: "The boss has arrived, now it will be fun."

And when he was gone, this expectation emotionally covered, it seemed that all this was some kind of bad dream.

- In difficult situations, do you think how he would have acted in your place?

- Yes, sometimes.

We always had a lively discussion.

We could argue with each other.

Moreover, Eduardych never allowed himself to yell.

He could walk and creak: "Here, youth!"

But then they still listened to him like a father.

Now you take this experience gained with him.

All the best.

It helps.

I am happy that I met him in due time and worked for two seasons.

We started at Lokomotiv, and the big gap was at Dynamo.

It was he who called me here when he himself came to the team.

• © RFS

"Sugar and alcohol are the same poison"

- A popular topic today is the consumption of sugar and alcohol by athletes.

Why is there such attention to her?

“She’s not worth a damn.”

Everyone understands perfectly well that if you want to maintain a high level in sports, you need to follow your diet: what you eat and drink, how much you sleep, how you recover.

It's just that this topic was presented like this - sugar was banned in the national team.

It is also in pasta, but without carbohydrates in spaghetti, an athlete will not be able to work normally.

It's just that everything should be in moderation.

Likewise, alcohol is not conducive to health.

If you are an athlete, played in the heat and then drank a glass of beer, this is not normal.

Yes, the body will digest everything, you will continue to perform.

But this is wrong.

Likewise with sweet.

You cannot eat two eclairs at night.

For me, sugar and alcohol are the same poison.

- Do you control the weight of the players in the club?

— Да, конечно. Ни для кого не секрет: лишний процент жира — это дополнительный вес, который нужно на себе таскать, что для спортсмена недопустимо. Он мешает прогрессировать. Ты быстрее утомляешься, уменьшается работоспособность и повышается риск получить травму. Поэтому раз в две недели мы ведём контроль состава тела футболистов. У каждого есть допустимый вес и процент жира. Если ребята выходят за рамки, платят штраф: 100 грамм — 100 долларов.

— Это же смешная сумма…

— Для человека всё, что отбирают, значительно. Даже если это два рубля при зарплате в миллион. У тебя сегодня взяли $100, потом $200, $500. А затем не попадёшь в состав, не сыграешь и не получишь бонусы. У нас такая ментальность. Никому не нравится просто отдавать деньги. Лучше я их потрачу на семью, детей или с друзьями посижу в кафе. Мы щедрые, только если пьяные.

— Привыкли к реалиям коронавируса?

— Конечно, становится спокойнее. За последнее время уже столько пережили. Есть наработанный протокол. Знаешь, где можно не беспокоиться, а когда нужно дообследовать, усилить лечение. Ни для кого не секрет, что люди болеют, и футболисты тоже.

— Смертей в спорте стало больше или просто сейчас каждая придаётся огласке?

— Я думаю, примерно столько же. Просто раньше можно было промолчать или не заметить, что произошло в соседнем регионе. С новыми технологиями происшествие сразу выкидывается в сеть и доходит до федеральных каналов.

— Врачам новые технологии помогают?

— Да, конечно, стало намного проще связаться с коллегой, найти информацию, посмотреть обучающий урок. Расширился список интересной зарубежной литературы. Медицине это на руку. Можно от Австралии до США смотреть, какие исследования проводятся. Десять лет назад говорилось, что холодная вода — панацея после тренировок. Сейчас же доказано — она помогает лишь улучшить самочувствие.

— Как с течением времени изменился характер травм в футболе?

— Существуют классические повреждения: голеностоп, колени. Возможно, с увеличением скоростей возрос процент травм крестообразных связок. Но с развитием медицины риск невозврата стал меньше. Если раньше при разрыве крестов футболист заканчивал карьеру, то теперь его прооперировали, реабилитировали и он через полгода снова играет.

— Сейчас судьи активно пользуются видео во время матчей. А вам оно помогает определить характер травмы?

— Да, мы стали тоже прибегать к просмотру. Это большое подспорье для экспресс-диагностики. Когда смотришь повтор, быстрее понимаешь характер травмы.

— А нельзя эту экспресс-диагностику делать по ходу матча?

— Такое практикуется в АПЛ. Один врач на пульте с операторами смотрит видео и говорит второму, что произошло. Насколько это ускоряет процесс оказания помощи на поле, не знаю. Пока мы это не используем. Конечно, есть обратная связь со вторым врачом. Когда осмотрел игрока, сообщаю ему по рации, всё нормально или нужна замена.

— Сколько требуется времени после матча, чтобы собрать все данные и выдать заключение по состоянию футболиста?

— Если всё детализировать — до суток. Больше всего времени уходит на анализ крови, тут мы зависим от лаборатории. Обязательно проверяем всех футболистов, кто сыграл больше 70 минут, на мышечную утомляемость.

— Всевозможные коктейли для восстановления используете?

— Да, в том числе. После окончания одной и до начала следующей тренировки нужно помочь футболисту максимально быстро восстановиться, а также в идеальной форме подойти к новому матчу. Для этого мы и нужны в команде. С помощью тестов следим за синдромом утомления и используем все возможные разрешённые методы, не нарушая антидопинговое законодательство. Рад, что в «Динамо» появился Андрей Милутинович. Сплав наших медицинских возможностей и его академических знаний физиологии спортсмена привели к интересной коллаборации. Это вывело нас на новый уровень, на котором будем дальше развиваться.