George Achilles Lazarou was born in Piraeus in 1966. He graduated from Varvakios Model School and entered the Medical School of Athens University in 1985. He graduated in 1991 and joined a few postgraduate seminars, one for the developing necessity in Greece, called “Tele-medicine”, another one for “Medicine in the workplace” and a third one for “Financial Planning”. He was particularly attracted to History of Medicine and joined the “2nd Annual Postgraduate Seminar for the History of Bio-medical Sciences (1991-2)”, which eventually led to his PhD, titled “Hellenic Medicine in the Danubian Principalties”. 

He has been involved in martial arts since 1985, initially Karate-Do, followed by Taekwon-Do later on. He is currently a VII Dan black belt holder (or Master Instructor) in International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF). He completed the compulsory in Greece military service as a medical officer on board a navy vessel. During this time, he also joined the “10th School of Diving Medicine”, both in theory at the Athens Naval Hospital and in practice at the Underwater Demolition Unit, a Hellenic Navy elite team, equivalent to the US Navy Seal team, where he also received a two-star scuba diving certificate.

Following the equally compulsory one-year medical rural service, he started his residency in General Surgery at “Metaxa Cancer Hospital” in Piraeus, followed by another five years residency in Orthopedics and Trauma at “KAT General Hospital” in Kifissia. There, he trained in General Orthopedics and Traumatology, Micro-surgery and Hand Trauma, Children’s Orthopedics and Sports Surgery. He also attended ATLS and APLS programs for the emergency pre-hospital care of both adults and children. During his residency, he was particularly interested in Osteoporosis, attending most activities of the “Research Center for Musculoskeletal Diseases “Th. Garofalidis” of the University of Athens” and later on the Hellenic Institute for Osteoporosis and the Hellenic Society for Bone Metabolism Study. He also organized several events, addressed to the general public, patients and support groups at the area of NE Attiki, today’s Municipalities of Dionysus and Oropos, regarding Osteoporosis and including specialized talks, followed by bone density measurements, using ultrasound at the heel (GE Achilles Express).

Several years after his PhD, he attended the MSc program for “Bone Metabolic Disorders”. His thesis was entitled “Pain Management in Chronic Back Pain” and let to his fascination with Acupuncture. Currently, he is Secretary General of the “Scientific Association of Medical Acupuncture in Greece” (www.samag.gr) and takes part in all events of this sub-specialty. 

The Central Council for Health in Greece recently (2018) acknowledged the status of “Complementary Medicine” for 3 disciplines, namely Therapeutic Exercise, Spa Medicine and Acupuncture. Regarding Therapeutic Exercise, there is an abundance of scientific literature about martial arts applications towards improving the health and well-being of practitioners. Unfortunately, the prevalent rationale in practically all papers is about a short intervention (usually around three months) of subsidized and/or medically prescribed use of either yoga or a “disguised” martial art, such as the Chinese origin Tai Chi and Tai Qi Chuan or a “mild version” of “combative sports” like Japanese karate and Korean taekwondo. Most (practically all) papers study nursing home residents, because the study design, the completion of the intervention and the follow-up of the patients is so much easier. 

However, the true meaning of Martial Arts and the ideal paradigm for scientific investigation is the lifelong, systematic practice of a Martial Art as a “Way of Life”. The comparison should be made with an appropriate control group, based on a multi-year observation and follow up. Unfortunately, such studies are very hard to design and extremely expensive to perform, resulting in zero (0) results in the available literature, turning the “ideal paradigm” into “not evidence-based medicine”. 

For pretty much the same reason, the provision of “Therapeutic Exercise” in the context of his Orthopedic practice has not yet been implemented, since the desired level of commitment on behalf of the practitioners is not a realistic expectation. However, clear allusions to the self-evident correlation of Medicine and Martial Arts are given in his respective works, especially the English-language “Taekwon-Do Study Companion” series, with a strong worldwide appeal.