The Golden State Warriors guard Leandro Barbosa has found solace in a different type of medicine for injuries. He once tore an ACL in his knee and pushed past conventional medicine to get back on the court and play the level of basketball he is playing now. His younger self earned the nickname the Brazillian blur, but you’d still never believe how he had to come back from such a ravaging injury.
Make no mistake there is no easy way back from an injury of that level. It takes grueling hours of rehab, staying consistent on the doctors schedule, and of course time for the human body to heal. For Barbosa, he decided he would incorporate a drink, an elixir of sorts that he swears by, as he motions with his arms.
It cleans out all the bad things that you have in your body, All natural.
What he is talking about is horse medicine. Arnica do mato…. a natural concoction with both antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects not commonly found in the US, given to horses to aid their recovery. This has become Barbosa’s go to drink. Of course, he ran checks and balances through Warriors trainers and doctors and even offered the green liquid to some of his teammates.
Tastes like acid
I almost threw up. That’s one of those things where I need to know scientifically that it really works for me to keep doing it, because it’s disgusting
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Regardless if they like it or not, Barbosa is unrelenting and orders a full stock from Brazil and even has his family drinking it.
It burns going down. You kind of feel dizzy if you’re not used to it. I got used to it. It’s a medicine you give horses. Whenever they get hurt, it helps them recover very quickly. Because they have to run. My entire family drinks it now.
Teammate and long time friend Anderson Varejao says his family only used it as an ointment, and that he would never drink it.
Whether you are a believer or not, it's hard to argue the results for him. Since returning from his injury, Barbosa is averaging 6.3 PPG in the playoffs for one of NBA's most historic teams. Over the past couple years, he’s competed in 134 of 164 possible games, which he attributes in large part to his horse medicine.
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