MARCA tests Cristiano Ronaldo's oxygen therapy

Winger has been using chamber to beat knee injury

My piece for MARCA

Cristiano Ronaldo may be holidaying in Ibiza, but his fitness is still paramount as he undergoes an innovative oxygen therapy technique that MARCA had to try out.

Rest and relaxation may be the order of the day after a long season, but even in the mediterranean idyll the attacker's undergoing regular sessions of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) to speed up recovery in the knee injury he picked up in the Euro 2016 final.

MARCA visited a clinic in Madrid offering this treatment to find out what it's all about.

HBOT is a method of healing injuries based around elevated oxygen levels that's becoming increasingly popular with elite athletes.

All of this takes placed in a specially designed chamber containing pure oxygen delivered at an elevated atmospheric level.

Once the patient enters the chamber, the oxygen is fed through and the increased pressure becomes noticeable in the ears, with a noticeable noise increase.

When MARCA visited the Ulcemed clinic our journalist was treated to the Valsalva manoeuvre which involves forced exhalation while having the mouth and nose covered, creating a sensation akin to diving or blowing up a balloon.

Its benefits are theoretically numerous and include muscle tissue repair, enhanced collagen production, and the combatting of harmful pathogens, all of which put together leads to an acceleration in the body's natural healing processes.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE HERE AT MARCA IN ENGLISH