Rodrigo Martín Baeza is a distinguished physiotherapist whose career spans prestigious clubs like Real Madrid, Real Valladolid, and Real Murcia, where he has developed expertise in high-performance sports medicine and player care. His journey has been marked by significant learnings in elite football management, team collaboration, and maintaining professional confidentiality, demonstrating the evolution of his approach to sports physiotherapy.

Currently working at AlUla Club in Saudi Arabia, Martín Baeza brings his extensive European football experience to contribute to the growth of football in the region. His academic credentials include a FIFA diploma in Football Medicine and published research in the Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, where he studied the effects of isometric abdominal and gluteus medius work on soccer players

His approach combines hands-on treatment with modern technology, always emphasizing the fundamental importance of manual therapy and exercise in player rehabilitation

You’ve worked with several Spanish clubs like Real Madrid, Real Valladolid, and Real Murcia. How has your approach to physiotherapy evolved through these different experiences?

The experience that I take away from each of these clubs is incredible. At Real Madrid I began to learn about high performance sport and how to take care of every single detail, as even the smallest detail is important for improvement. At Real Valladolid, I had a very good time and I met a lot of people and very good colleagues, from there I highlight the importance of teamwork, because before arriving at Valladolid, in the previous clubs, I was the only professional in the department.

I think it is absolutely necessary to be well accompanied if you want to do a quality job and get good results.

And in Real Murcia I was very surprised by the great impact of the club in the city, despite coming from two big clubs, Real Murcia does not lag behind, it also teaches you to be discreet with the work that is done and that what happens inside the club always stays inside.

Every year is a new experience with a new learning experience and I think that these 3 clubs have taught me 3 of the most important aspects to take into account in this world of football. Understanding the importance of elite football and its details, teamwork and confidentiality of information.

What motivated your move to Saudi Arabia’s AlUla Club, and how does physiotherapy practice differ there compared to European football?

The reason I moved to Saudi Arabia to work for Alula was above all the excitement and the desire to contribute to something bigger. To be able to help a country to grow, and to do my bit to make that possible. To try to teach my experience to other professionals, and also to learn from them.

From my experience, the difference between practising physiotherapy here in Arabia or in Europe is honestly not much, physiotherapy is physiotherapy all over the world, I am very happy to be here and to help where I can.

Could you elaborate on your research published in the Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health regarding isometric abdominal and gluteus medius work for soccer players?

Yes, of course, I carried out this study when I was studying for my Master’s degree in sports physiotherapy at the Real Madrid European University School in Madrid. I carried it out with football players, in this case in women’s football, with the first team of C.F. Fuenlabrada during 4 months of research.

And the results were very positive as it was shown that abdominal and gluteus medius work significantly improves lumbopelvic stability and adductor strength. Every day more and more new studies appear about the adductor muscles and every day we have more information, it is good that science advances so fast, so we can work in the best possible way in our field with the most accurate and updated information.

As Head Physiotherapist at various clubs, how do you coordinate with other medical staff and coaches to optimize player performance?

I like this question very much, and I think there is one thing that is essential in a team, and that is communication. Communication within a department, both within the medical department and between different departments.

Based on my experience in various clubs as head of physiotherapy, I really like to set up daily meetings to talk about the players’ condition, to see what we are doing right, what we are doing wrong, and to help each other. Here I stress the importance of being well accompanied, as I said in the previous question, as 4 eyes see more than 2 and it can always happen that a professional sees something that another one is not seeing, and that help is always good for everyone.

As physiotherapists we are in close contact with the physical trainers, as our work in the readaptation of injuries is very close (or the figure of the readaptor) and the information must be very fluid and truthful. We must also be very coordinated not only with the injured players but with all the players in the squad and talk about them on a daily basis and also know how much can be demanded of them in each training session depending on their physical condition.

The physical trainer is usually our link with the coaching staff. The easier and simpler the communication, the better. Our objective is the wellbeing of the player and we must work as a team to provide the best tools and solutions so that the player is available and fit for competition as soon as possible and with the minimum possible risk.

Drawing from your experience at high-performance centres and professional clubs, what are your key strategies for injury prevention in football?

When we talk about injury prevention, I really like to carry out in pre-season and at other different points during the year, individual assessments of players in terms of mobility, strength and elasticity. All this gives us a lot of information about how the player comes in after 1 month off for holidays, how he is during the year and where we can focus on working on the weaknesses we find.

This year in Arabia I have been lucky enough to have all kinds of material to work with, the dynamometer and the Vald platforms, among others, give us a lot of quality information. But injury prevention is very complicated. And I explained why, we can give all the possible tools for prevention (exercise, nutrition, rest…) but the reality is that an injury is multifactorial.

We can reduce the risk, but it can never be 0%. But this is life too, and that’s why I always try to improve in order to give the best solutions to my athletes.

How did your time at Real Madrid’s Sports City influence your approach to youth player development and rehabilitation?

The experience at Real Madrid is one of the most beautiful things that has happened to me in my sporting career and in my life. I have been able to meet excellent professionals and learn from them every day.

They have a very organised working methodology there, and I learnt a lot. About assessment and reasoning the reason for each pain or discomfort, the integral treatment of the athlete, with a peripheral vision of injuries, not only focusing on the point of pain. And also how to manage an athlete, who is not only an athlete, but also a person and with the multiple situations that can exist, and above all being in a club as important as Real Madrid.

Having worked in Spain, Uzbekistan, and now Saudi Arabia, how do you adapt your communication and treatment methods to different cultural contexts?

You always have to know where you are, and wherever you go, know the culture. This is important because there can be different situations and you don’t act in the same way everywhere, but my first experience in Uzbekistan was very good and there I learned a lot about Muslim culture, so once I arrived in Saudi Arabia, I was already familiar with the country’s culture.

How has modern technology influenced your physiotherapy practices throughout your career?

With each passing year, new studies appear and with them new devices that help us in our clinical practice. But we don’t always have the most innovative means where we work, and we still have to work.

That is why I always say that the main tool of a physiotherapist has to be the hands and exercise. And then everything we have at our disposal will be of great help to complete our treatments.

Could you tell us about your experience giving talks at CES University of Colombia and how you approach educating players about injury prevention?

The talk I gave at the university in Colombia was a very nice experience. I was able to interact with students from another continent and to offer them my vision of physiotherapy, my way of working and my experience.

As for the education of our players, it is an essential role. We have to educate them as much as possible, if we are lucky enough to work with young people, they absorb the information much earlier than a 30 year old who already has acquired habits. Often veteran players are a great help when we want to teach something to young people, but our role is essential.

We must explain to them how important the role of prevention is, and that they must invest time in this if they want to achieve great things as professionals, as it will help them to have a longer and better quality sporting life, reducing the risk of injury as much as possible.

With your FIFA diploma in Football Medicine, how do you see the role of physiotherapy evolving in professional football?

As a physiotherapist, I would say that the figure of the physiotherapist in professional football is one of the most important figures within a club, and even more so now with the number of matches played, as the number of matches has increased and with it the risk of injury. The demands are ever greater, which makes us strive more and more every day as professionals to give the best of ourselves.

In elite football, we talk about performance and we have to understand that in the best possible way and work so that the player can be available to train and compete at the weekend.