Physiotherapist from the first division soccer team SV Ried went to bed healthy in the evening – and in the morning he no longer felt his left leg. How the 54-year-old, who has meanwhile been operated on in Salzburg, experienced and processed this moment of shock, why, according to his own original statement, he was “very lucky” and what the causes of the paralysis are suspected to be. . .
“As is well known, the shoemaker himself often has the worst shoes – but weeds don’t die,” says Peter Gebhartl with a tormented smile. Who even worked for Israel’s national soccer team under Andreas Herzog – and has been a physiotherapist for Bundesliga club Ried for around 20 years. Where his second most important patient is currently striker Robin Ungerath due to a knee injury. However, Gebhartl’s biggest problem child is currently . . . He himself! Namely since he recently had this moment of shock when he woke up in bed in the morning: “Oh God, my leg! My leg is paralyzed!” “I felt fit” “When I went to sleep in the evening, I had no pain or problems and felt fit,” says the 54-year-old: “But when I woke up in the morning I didn’t feel my left lower leg more – he was paralyzed!” And further: “My luck is that I have many contacts and therefore quickly got into a tube,” the Ried physio addresses the CT examination. Specialist helped! With the finding (nerve root S1 left with paralysis) we immediately went to a specialist in Salzburg. “He advised me to have an operation immediately – because the longer the paralysis lasts, the higher the probability of a full recovery,” says the 54-year-old, who had parts of an intervertebral disc sucked out or destroyed! “Uncertainty remains, but it is unclear which triggered everything. “It’s possible that I had a previous injury and was sitting badly somewhere for a long time the day before! That’s enough for something to start pressing on a nerve,” says Gebhartl. Who is now so fit again that he can take care of Ungerath’s knee. But what remains is the uncertainty that tomorrow when you wake up something could happen again.
source site-12