Tiger Woods' 'Blood-Spinning' Doc Faces Drug Charges

Canada says pioneer was doping patients
By Jane Yager,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 9, 2009 11:23 AM CST
Tiger Woods' 'Blood-Spinning' Doc Faces Drug Charges
In this Nov. 15, 2009 file photo, Tiger Woods, tips his cap to the crowd after he finished his final hole in Melbourne, Australia, during the Australian Masters golf tournament at Kingston Heath.   (AP Photo/Rob Griffith, File)

The Canadian sports injury expert who treated Tiger Woods with his pioneering injury-healing technique, "blood-spinning," has been arrested on drug charges and will appear in a Toronto court later this month. Dr. Tony Galea admits to treating patients with substances not officially approved, but describes the medications as “homeopathic," the Daily Telegraph reports.

Galea admits using Actovegin, a drug containing calf's blood that is banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency if used intravenously, but there is no suggestion he treated Tiger Woods with the substance. Blood-spinning, the procedure Galea used to help Woods recover from knee surgery, is currently legal under anti-doping regulations, but next year will be allowed only for injections into ligaments and tendons, not muscles. (More Tiger Woods stories.)

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