Phoenix Suns center Jermaine O'Neal is among a contingent of NBA players heading to Germany over the offseason to get special knee treatment, as Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic reports. The treatment was popularized around the league by Lakers guard Kobe Bryant, who had a strong 2011-12 season after getting the procedure done last year.
According to Coro, O'Neal is among a group of players heading to Germany that also includes Clippers forward Grant Hill, who left the Suns to join L.A. a few months ago. They'll be undergoing a procedure known as Regenokine, which Coro describes below:
The treatment takes five days and begins with having blood drawn, incubated, heated and spun into a centrifuge to make an orange serum. That is injected into the arthritic joint daily for five days.
Athletes have been heading to Dusseldorf, Germany, to have the procedure done by its inventor, Dr. Peter Wehling. The treatment is extremely expensive, but it's been used by top athletes around the U.S. recently, including baseball player Alex Rodriguez and golfer Fred Couples in addition to a variety of NBA players.
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