Tottenham To Use Blood-Spinning To Aid Gareth Bale Recovery From Injury

Spurs To Use Blood-Spinning To Aid Bale Recovery?

Gareth Bale's recovery from an ankle injury will be combatted by the blood-spinning technique Tottenham's medical staff used to treat Jermain Defoe earlier this season.

Blood-spinning entails small samples of an athlete's blood being withdrawn and then spun in a centrifuge to increase the concentration of growth hormones. The sample is then injected back into the athlete in a bid to quicken their recovery, with the healing process estimated to be five times faster.

Bale was ruled out for two weeks when his ankle twisted awkwardly against Basel in the Europa League last week, and Spurs hope he will be available again after Thursday's return leg ahead of hosting Manchester City on 21 April.

The blood-spinning technique was used to aid Defoe's comeback from a pelvic injury in January when Spurs were effectively deprived of their entire strikeforce.

Coach André Villas-Boas revealed the club had adopted the treatment despite Chelsea being warned about it in 2005.

Bale could return for Spurs's fixture with Manchester City next week

"We believe in the treatment Jermain has been having and there is no danger that he will make the injury worse by what we have done," insisted Villas-Boas in January. "It is a technique that we have been using since the beginning of the season. It is not common but does happen from club to club.

"You take out the blood from any part of the body and spin it around. The plasma comes to the top of the blood and you are able to inject it back into the body and that is the part of the blood that heals injuries. It accelerates the recovery process."

Although legal, José Mourinho's Chelsea were warned about employing the method by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in 2005 on Dutch winger Arjen Robben.

Dick Pound, the former president of WADA, said "it sounds like blood manipulation of some sort to me" at the time.

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