“Dr. José María Villalón, medical director of Atlético de Madrid with more than 25 years at the club, reflects on the evolution of sports medicine and the care of high-performance athletes within the framework of the first International Congress of Physiotherapy and Sports Medicine.
In this testimonial he explains that performance improvement is always progressive and depends on good health that allows the athlete to assimilate the loads of training and competition. That same load, he warns, generates fatigue and can lead to overload injuries, which is why prevention and monitoring are decisive.
As he explains, the incorporation of science and innovation into sports medicine has opened up new possibilities for advanced functional assessment, tools that help understand the athlete’s real capabilities and decide on their return after an injury. He also stresses the central role of the autonomic nervous system and of what he calls “”invisible training””: rest, sleep, nutrition, hydration and recovery, which take up most of the athlete’s time and preserve their health.
His reflection points toward a more comprehensive approach to performance, in which the regulation of the nervous system and recovery are consolidated as pillars of the present and future of the discipline.”
