U.S. Olympian finds cheese to heal injury

Athletes use different methods to recover from injuries. Some of the methods don't make sense and seem odd, and at the same time Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn has found her own odd form of treatment.

Lindsey Vonn has been making headlines going into the 2010 Winter Olympics. She was a favorite in a number of ski events, she also raised some eyebrows with her Sports Illustrated cover and then, while in Austria, she made more news when she injured her shin, throwing her ability to recover for the Olympics into question. Vonn has come up with another solution for her injuries: topfen cheese. Topfen is an Austrian cheese that she applies to her injured shin. Ralph Reiff, a certified trainer doesn't think it is that strange of a treatment, "It's just what athletes at that level do." Reiff continued, "If the person who is receiving that treatment believes that it's part of the puzzle of getting better, therefore that athlete has faith. I am a firm believer that it has value." Reiff claims it doesn't matter if it is a home remedy, or something passed down through the years. Vonn told Sports Illustrated that her physical therapist was using this unusual remedy. "He's been wrapping cheese on it, and I know that sounds funny, but it seems to work. He's been rubbing Castor oil on it." Reiff doesn't see a problem in using the cheese. He feels that as long as the athletes are being safe and not doing anything to endanger themselves there is no harm whether it is cheese, or oil, or fat.