Prevention and Recovery

Tupi, Laniyan, Puglia, Bruno Brum, Lucas e Fernando no CT George Helal. Foto: Gilvan de Souza / CRF

Through the early 2000s, the scene was a common sight at any professional football match. A player would go down injured, and within seconds a masseur appeared at his side with a first-aid bag containing miracle water, a bottle of ether and cotton wool. It was football's romantic era, marked by figures like Deni, Jorginho, Jorjão, Pai Santana and Luisão — among those who worked at Rio clubs. But that age has passed. Today, the first response to an injured player typically comes from a team of two: a doctor and a physiotherapist.

Doctors have always been part of football, but physiotherapists are a more recent addition. With increasing professionalization and technological advances, space opened for this profession, which now even has its own date to celebrate — October 13. Today, it is unthinkable for a top-level football club to lack a dedicated physiotherapy department.

"Today, any elite athlete in any sport has at least one physiotherapist on staff. In team sports, there's usually an entire team because demand is enormous and constant", says Márcio Puglia, 43, head of physiotherapy for Flamengo's professional squad.

At Flamengo, the department currently has six professionals, and the workload is relentless. Beyond Puglia, the team includes Bruno Brum, Laniyan Neves, Lucas Mallet, Fernando Freitas and Roberto Tupinambá, plus trainee João Pedro. Virtually every player consults physiotherapists daily, before and after training sessions and matches.

Physiotherapy entered football to accelerate recovery from injury. Newton Petroni, known as Filé, was the first specialist to gain widespread recognition. That was in 1990, when Romário — who had fractured his foot — hired him to attempt recovery before the 1990 World Cup.

"Over time, players began turning to physiotherapy for injury prevention as well. Today, 80 percent of the daily sessions we conduct here at Ninho are focused on preventing injury", Puglia adds.

With a decade in football, the coordinator started at Vasco da Gama before joining Flamengo in 2020. He has overseen the comeback of countless players, but one case stands out as a point of pride: Bruno Henrique's recovery.

In September 2022, the forward suffered a multiligamentary knee injury to his right leg. At 32, many believed his career was over. The initial recovery phase was worrying. After three months of daily physiotherapy and despite the player's full commitment, progress stalled. "He couldn't regain his range of motion. We changed our approach and performed a diagnostic arthroscopy. Recovery took off, and within ten months Bruno Henrique was back. And he returned better than expected. Today, at 35, he continues performing at the highest level", the physiotherapist recalls.

Laniyan, who played professionally and represented Brazil's U-20 side, qualified as a physiotherapist and has worked at Flamengo since 2016. He started as a trainee, progressed through the youth academy, and was promoted to the professional staff in 2020 after completing his degree.

This year, the club released him to join Uruguay's national team to aid the recovery of Arrascaeta, who suffered a muscle injury ahead of the 2026 World Cup. He had already built a strong relationship with the Uruguayan Federation since 2025, through Nico de La Cruz and Arrascaeta himself. The hope was that Flamengo's number 10 would feature for La Celeste in matches beyond the group stage, but Uruguay was eliminated and Arrascaeta never took the pitch.

But in 2022, the ending was one to celebrate. The Uruguayan star dealt with chronic pubalgia, and specialized work was essential to get him on the pitch for Flamengo's biggest matches of the season.

"It was demanding, but absolutely worth it. We won the Copa Libertadores and the Copa do Brasil", the physiotherapist reflects.