Matthew Brick, traumatologist: “I’ve been through almost all the surgeries I normally do”

A life dedicated to sports and health. Matthew Brick (Auckland, 1962) has managed to combine both as a renowned arthroscopic hip, knee and shoulder surgeon, while at the same time continuing to set milestones in triathlon, in addition to being a two-time world champion in duathlon. He went to Galicia to participate in the congresses of the Spanish Arthroscopy Association and the Spanish Knee Society

—He managed to combine his two passions, sports and medicine. How did you get to that point?

— I was very competitive from a young age. I entered medical school as a competition. When I finished my degree, I found that I had no personal reason to continue with it. I chose him based on my older brother, who is ten years older than me. At that time, I accidentally started playing sports, and I noticed that I liked triathlon. In 18 months she was international. I suddenly realized that I had a new occupation that I really liked and I was a professional athlete for five years. I thought I would never go back to medicine. An Achilles heel injury forced me to stop. Two of my sponsors offered me a job in the industry, but one was in the United States and the other in Finland, and I wanted to be in New Zealand, so I thought about reconsidering the possibility of combining the two aspects, sports and medicine. The two options I considered were sports medicine or orthopedic surgery. I spent some time with specialists in both fields and noticed that the sports doctor, who was very good, referred one or two patients every one to a traumatologist. I consider myself a control freak. I couldn’t tolerate losing track of my patients, so I was referred to trauma. I started training in orthopedic surgery and I promised myself that if I didn’t really like it I wouldn’t have that false sense of pride that would keep me there no matter what, but since I tried it I fell in love and stayed there.

— There is no better way to know what an athlete can feel than if he has been through it.

— I have undergone almost all the operations that I normally do. I can tell you firsthand what will happen to you and what you will feel.

—How does the head affect endurance competitions?

— There is a big difference between being 60 or 25 years old. Two years ago I set the New Zealand ironman record for my age group, with which I qualified for the next one in Hawaii. But I have to accept that my body is not what it used to be, that I have more injuries, that I need more rest. I maintain a database of my patients’ results, just as I collect my own. Distance, time, position where it was left. I started doing the same with the results of my trades.

“When did you start making that record?”

– In 2008.

– And what was the goal?

— This helps me to analyze, to explain to the patient the results he may have in his injury. I began to evaluate the data I had on hip instability, more common in women due to joint laxity, and I found that those who were obese had much worse results. This has forced me to change what I recommend for these types of patients. I know that if I operate on them the result will be worse and I recommend not to do that.

— Besides medicine, do you really like music?

—When I was 15 years old, I lived in a city where the weather was very bad, and I had nothing to do in the winter, so we decided to start a band. I always played beats in school, so he played drums for me.

— How do you prepare for ironman in Hawaii?

I train five days a week. I start consultations at 9.30 and get up at 5.30. I do a few days of racing, on Wednesdays I go swimming before surgery, and the weekend is the hardest for preparations. The only reason I can do this is because my wife, Tracey, helps me in the practice with patient monitoring. I have a gym downstairs in my house, and on Sunday afternoons athletes come from all over to train their core and strength. There are only two rules, they do what I say and they can’t complain.