Arsenal Special: Van Persie Just The Latest In A Long Line Of Bizarre Injury Treatments

The striker's placenta massage treatment recalls a number of other weird, wonderful and obscure injury cures.

Robin van Persie has decided to place his injured right ankle in the hands of a Serbian housewife who specialises in healing massages using placenta fluid.


If the massages are successful, he believes they can help him reduce the orthodox medical prognosis of his recovery period from seven weeks to three.

"She is vague about her methods, but I know that she first massages you for a long time with placenta fluid," said van Persie. "I am going to give it a try. It can't do any harm and if it helps, it helps..."

Unusual? Yes. Bizarre? Er... yes, too. Risky? Unlikely. Unique? No. Plenty of other desperate, injured sportsmen have tried to recover using a wide range of bizarre methods.

And plenty of managers have tried a variety of weird and wonderful ways of hurrying players out of the treatment room and back on to the playing field.