If we said that Alex Rodriguez recently took advice from Kobe Bryant, Yankees fans might get a bit nervous. Don’t worry: Kobe didn’t give A-Rod any pointers on how to embarrass ownership into making a transaction. This was medical advice, which A-Rod cleared through the Yankees. According to the NY Post, Rodriguez recently traveled to Germany for an experimental therapy called Orthokine on his ailing right knee.
Orthokine involves taking blood from the patient’s arm and spinning it in a centrifuge, a machine used in laboratories to spin objects around a fixed axis. The serum is then injected into the affected area — in this case, Rodriguez’s knee.
Bryant underwent the same treatment last summer to try to strengthen his right knee. He also reportedly had the procedure done in October to treat a chronic left ankle ailment.
Sounds relatively harmless, but does it work?
“A lot of athletes I’ve talked to really think this stuff works, but we really don’t have a lot of scientific knowledge behind it of exactly what’s happening,” the co-chief of sports medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital, Dr. Jonathan Glashow, said. “It’s a great way to reduce inflammation and therefore pain, and that’s the essence of it. I think a lot of the athletes who have wear-and-tear on their knees benefit from this. You do it for a while and if it doesn’t stay good you do it again in a few years.”
Obviously the procedure is nothing drastic or permanent, but A-Rod needs all the help he can get to keep him young. He’s battled a number of injuries recently and he’s still on the Yankees’ books for plenty more dollars and plenty more years. If he stays off the DL this season, Yankees fans may owe Kobe a thank you.
Chest bump to I Am a GM for the story.
