Samantha Lane’s tweets described Before The Game’s interview with injured Hawthorn player Brent Guerra as ‘refreshingly honest’ as the journalist admitted to being ‘intrigued’.
The ‘intriguing’ and ‘honest’ interview was remarkable for Guerra’s statement that his acupuncturist had
re-injected Guerra’s blood into his injured hamstring after some, unspecified treatment to that blood, with the goal of speeding up the healing process and giving Guerra the chance of playing in a grand final.
It’s not hard to understand why a player would be prepared to try just about anything to play in a grand final.
However, in his desperation to play, on the basis on the information in the interview Guerra may have violated the anti-doping rules of the World Anti-Doping Agency, which also apply to the Australian Football League.
Section M2 of WADA’s Prohibited List (the master list of prohibited substances and methods)states that “Sequential withdrawal, manipulation and reintroduction of any quantity of whole blood into the circulatory system” is a Prohibited Method.
This rule was primarily intended to prevent blood doping of the kind endurance athletes, most famously cyclists, are notorious for, where large quantities of blood products are re-injected directly into the bloodstream to improve oxygen carrying capacity, or to disguise the use of other products that do so.
However, there is no doubt that the rule applies to re-injection of blood into muscle. The Herald Sun reported in 2009 that re-injecting blood products into muscle, used by Paul Chapman to assist his own recovery from a hamstring injury to play in the 2009 Grand Final, was now banned due to the updates to the WADA code.
Regardless of the effectiveness or otherwise of this treatment on Guerra’s injured hamstring, or the fact that it is extremely unlikely to have had endurance-boosting effects, rules are rules, and they exist for very good reasons.
Blood doping, were it ever to be used in the AFL, would be effective, and would corrupt the game in the same way it has corrupted other sports.
Guerra’s comments should be referred to ASADA, the local branch of WADA, for further investigation.
Recipient
Guest
I rang my doctor-at Imaging at Olympic Park where it was done. Definitely Orthokine
rgmerk
Guest
Follow-up by Sam Lane - she's gone and asked a few doctors appears the treatment is legal now (though it would not have been in 2009), if the treatment is"platelet-rich plasma injections". According to Wikipedia, intramuscular injections of platelet-rich plasma were cleared by WADA in 2011. It's not quite the same as Orthokine, but somewhat similar.
Recipient
Guest
The overnight incubation part gives the key to the story. This will be Orthokine (used by Nick Riewoldt on his knee). It is a Serum produced from the players blood. Totally legal.
rgmerk
Guest
At least according to the Hun article I linked to, injections into tendons or ligaments is fine but not into muscle: "..But changes to the WADA code, which will apply from January 1, mean doctors can no longer inject blood back directly into a player's muscles. AFL operations manager Adrian Anderson said yesterday the AFL was aware of WADA's change and would apply the new rules.... ...The ramifications are extremely complex because WADA will still allow injections into tendons and surrounding tissue, so it is difficult to police. " Sports Doc, I've quoted the WADA code and a news article directly on point. If I'm wrong, fine, but it would be informative if you'd actually explain why I'm wrong (by quoting the relevant section of the WADA handbook or other official communication, for instance) rather than just asserting so.
KP
Guest
http://www.melbourneradiology.com.au/sports-medicine/autologous-blood-injection.html Essentially blood is great at healing (ACL injuries are so poor to heal due to their poor blood supply), so why not pump blood into a damaged area goes the theory. Has some effectiveness but more in tendinopathies (tendons being "frayed" or poorly healed). Bit concerned if they did play around a bit with the blood before injecting it tough. (Not all) Docs aren't that stupid....
Fussball's AFL tracking spreadsheet
Guest
Of course, Autologous blood injections are fine, everyone knows that! Remind me, what's an autologous blood injection again?
Sports doc
Guest
Autologous blood injections are not a doping offense and this is on the wada handbook. Docs aren't that stupid!!!!
Fussball's AFL tracking spreadsheet
Guest
Thanks for the links, very interesting. I guess the key issue would be the type of manipulation that took place with his blood outside the body. If it was some sort of non scientific mumbo jumbo practiced by an acupuncturist then he's probably in the clear on the grounds that the treatment is likely to be as effective as slaughtering 20 chickens before a game whilst dancing naked smeared in hogs blood around a fire. If on the other hand something more clinical took place then there may be an interesting case for further investigation.