Maple Leafs superstar Auston Matthews travelled to Germany recently to visit an apparent superstar sports medicine physician, two former National Hockey League players have confirmed to The Toronto Sun.
The physician, Dr. Hans-Wilhelm Muller-Wohlfahrt, is internationally recognized for his work with big-name athletes and has a celebrity patient list that includes eight-time Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt, superstar singers Bono and Luciani Pavararotti, and former big-name athletes such as Boris Becker, Maurice Greene, Vitali Klitschko and Franz Beckenbauer.
Most recently, the doctor treated San Francisco running back Christian McCaffrey for his Achilles injury at his clinic.
Apparently, people travel from all over the world to meet with the 82-year-old Muller-Wollfahrt, the former team physician for the famed soccer club, Bayern Munich, as Matthews did on this recent occasion.
He went accompanied by Leafs team physician, Dr. Noah Forman. Muller-Wohlfahrt also was Germany’s national soccer team doctor for 13 years.
Matthews has been out of the Maple Leafs lineup since Nov. 3. with a mystery injury that neither he nor the team have declared. He is expected to return to the ice shortly, possibly as soon as Saturday night in Tampa Bay. The Leafs have an impressive 7-2 won-loss record in the nine games he has been out.
But what hasn’t been impressive: Toronto has scored just nine goals in nine games at 5-on-5 without the captain. Matthews has led all of hockey in his nine NHL seasons in scoring at even strength. Career-wise, he ranks ahead of Connor McDavid, Alexander Ovechkin and the rest of the sport in that time.
It isn’t known if Matthews decided on his own to make the Germany trip or whether others close to him helped make that determination.
When asked about the visit to Dr. Muller-Wohlfahrt, Matthews’ agent Judd Moldaver offered a “no comment.”
When Leafs general manager Brad Treliving was asked about it, he said he wouldn’t comment other than to defer to what he already has said on “Auston’s injury and related care.”
Neither Moldaver nor Treliving went so far as to deny that Matthews is the latest star athlete to have treated by Muller-Wohlfahrt. With the Leafs off for the day, Matthews was not available to comment on Thursday.
The Jamaican sprinter, Bolt — maybe the greatest Olympic performer ever — apparently is so close to the doctor that he dedicated the final 100-metre victory of his remarkable career to Muller-Wohlfahrt. And, after that race in 2016, the doctor bragged that he was aligned with five of the eight finalists from the next 100-metre world championship men’s race.
The injury Matthews is currently struggling with has never been revealed by either the very private Matthews or by the hockey club. In Germany, sources indicated the suspicion was it was either a back injury or a wrist injury. Muller-Wohlfarht is well known, also, for his work with knee injuries and with soft-tissue injuries.
Dr. Muller-Wohlfahrt is known for using conventional methods to treat some injuries and not-so-conventional methods to treat others.
In Germany, he has been called “the greatest healer since Hippocrates.” In another German publication he was referred to as a “quack.”
Muller-Wohlfahrt has been named in the past to the Top 100 list of most influential people in German sports.
The doctor is a large advocate of the drug Actovegin, a controversial drug that has not been approved for any use in Canada or the United States. But the drug, available in Europe, is not on the IOC banned list.
There is no evidence to suggest Actovegin was used in any of Matthews’ unknown treatments in Germany.
Well-known Toronto doctor Tony Galea made headlines in 2011 when he plead guilty to crossing the border with unapproved and mislabelled drugs, one of them being Actovegin.
At the time, Galea also was known for his celebrity athlete clientele, including golfing great Tiger Woods, and those supporting him publicly at his trial included former Leaf Tie Domi, and former Canadian Olympic gold-medal winners Mark McKoy and Patrick Chan.
The NHL has no rules preventing players from seeking treatment or medical attention outside North America. Among the drugs banned by the league, most of them considered performance enhancing drugs, Actovegin is not listed by the NHL as a banned substance.
When asked about this on Wednesday, the league indicated that “all players are subject to our drug testing policy.” They offered no further comment on the matter.
Dr. Muller-Wohlfahrt also is known for using homeopathic methods that are unusual and his work with various parts of the body is so impressive that he is considered to have magical “seeing hands.”
Most recently, Matthews spoke in generalities about his circumstance. He talked about coming back too soon after suffering injuries in the past and wanting to wait this one out.
“I just wanted to be mindful and make sure that I’m feeling back as close to 100% before we start getting back into game situations and stuff like that,” Matthrews said. “So it’s not something that prolongs throughout the season.”
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