Dr. Reza Ghorbani is Quoted Regarding Athletes and Herbal Remedies
Gold medal-winning downhill skier Lindsay Vonn wrapped injury shin with Austrian topfen cheese curd
After injuring her shin in Austria during training, American downhill skier Lindsey Vonn did what Austrian skiers do: She wrapped topfen cheese curd around her swollen right leg in hopes of reducing the swelling.
Whether or not the cheese helped her recover enough to win an Olympic gold medal Wednesday, the Austrian curd remains obscure.
Many gourmet cheesemongers aren't familiar with the semisoft cream cheese-like fromage, and sports medicine experts certainly aren't rushing out to prescribe it to injured patients.
The white, spreadable cheese is high in acid, low in fat and has a grainy texture, according to Wisconsin food chemist John Lucey, who told msnbc.com that the variety is popular in Germany, Russia and Poland, too - for eating, not for injuries.
"Using it on an injury is an unusual purpose for cheese even in those countries," Lucey, who teaches at the University of Wisconsin, told the Associated Press. "It's not clear if there's anything in this that would help."
New York cheese emporiums Murray's Cheese Shop, Artisanal and the Big Cheese say they don't carry topfen cheese curd. Murray's spokeswoman Mindy Lvoff told the AP, "We are not familiar with topfen cheese."
In Austria, it's traditional to apply poultices to injuries.
Here, though, sports injuries are not treated with a poultice, explains Dr. William Levine, director of sports medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center. But, he says, athletes are willing to try many different remedies in hopes of getting back to their sport.
"If an athlete thinks that something that is not illegal will help them heal better, they will do it," he says. "There is no science behind using the cheese that I am aware of. But the kind of deep tibial bruise that Lindsey Vonn has is a tough injury. We would treat it with rest, a highly potent anti-inflammatory and ice."
Dr. Reza Ghorbani, an interventional pain management specialist who often treats athletic injuries, says there's no scientific data that topfen cheese works on bruises or other ailments.
"But athletes are in the forefront of using unconventional treatments," he says. "And there is certainly a variety of alternative therapies I would recommend to my patients, such as herbal remedies."
When orthopedic surgeon Dr. John Benjamin heard that Vonn had spread cheese on her hurt shin, he said he chuckled. "It's a curious use for a dairy product, and I have not heard reports of great success," he says.
Other curious treatments for sports injuries have ranged from rubbing placenta juice into a bad hamstring as Serbian soccer player Danko Lazovic reportedly did, according to the AP, and using the fat of an emu as a rub for pain and swelling.
In Vonn's case, she didn't rely on cheese alone. Laser therapy, massage and painkillers also helped her out. She also lucked out with the weather: Poor conditions in Vancouver gave her a few extra days off for rest.
Given Vonn's amazing recovery, would orthopedic specialists ever consider using topfen cheese curd with injured athletes?
Says Benjamin, "Not unless they like the taste of it."