Since an early age, sports has always been part of Gar’s life. A varsity basketball and volleyball player as well as a tennis, table tennis, bowling and badminton enthusiast, he was the Team Captain of the champion High School basketball team his senior year. He finished his Elementary and High School education in Xavier School and took his Pre-Med course at the University of the Philippines. He graduated from the UP College of Medicine and one was one of the Outstanding Interns in Orthopedics. After finishing as Chief Resident of the University of the Philippines- Philippine General Hospital Department of Orthopedics, he took his Fellowship in Sports Medicine at the University of Cincinnati.
In 2008, he was selected as the “Godfather” for the European Society of Sports Traumatology, Knee Surgery and Arthroscopy-Asia Pacific Orthopedic Association (ESSKA-APOA) Travelling Fellowship program. While in 2011, he underwent additional training, this time on platelet-rich plasma or PRP, in the Orthopaedic Arthroscopic Surgery International (OASI) Bioresearch Foundation in Milan, Italy.
Gar is the founding Head of the UP-PGH Department of Orthopedics Sports Clinic; they started operations in 2000. This is the first multidisciplinary clinic in the Philippines that treats athletes from all walks of life – FOR FREE! The clinic treats professional basketball players, members of the Philippine national team, varsity and semi-pro level athletes, weekend warriors, Filipino paralympians and even budding and retired athletes.
He has been the Head of the Ortho-Rehab-Rheuma division of the MegaClinic since 2007. This is the first clinic of its kind in the Philippines that brings together the three specialties under one roof. In 2012, he started the Peak Form Sports Recovery Center. It is also the first of its kind…
He served as President of the Philippine Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine (POSSM) from 2011-2014. He is currently the President of the ASEAN Society for Sports Medicine and Arthroscopy (ASSA). Other positions include the following: Head of the Sports Medicine and Arthroscopy Units of Healthway Medical Clinics and My Health Clinic and former Consultant for the Philippine Sports Commission.
He is on the medical team of several professional and college basketball teams and part of the sports program of some high schools and colleges. He practices in Cardinal Santos Medical Center, MegaClinic, Peak Form and EA Regenerative Medicine Center.
Gar also enjoys writing and was a columnist for MultiSport Philippines, Endurance, SwimBikeRun, Badminton Asia, Badminton Philippines and Golf Digest Philippines and is currently on the Advisory Board of Men’s Health Philippines.
Dr. Gar’s Perks are
Having been surrounded by good people and blessed with a busy practice for more than a decade, I get the opportunity to be asked to lecture here and abroad and to be on the advisory board of several companies. I get to do what I love to do so it’s not work at all. I see patients, I do surgeries, I teach and try to inspire. I get to innovate and start trends. I head group practices and I train people to be leaders. I get to develop surgical techniques never before tried and pass these on to the people I work with. A lot of celebrities get referred to me also –athletes, politicians, entertainers. I see patients from all over the Philippines and from other countries.
On Dr Gar’s challenge
I love it that I get to be a real live Pied Piper. I’m flattered that people wait and see if what I started will be successful and, if it does, they follow suit. Of course, there is tremendous pressure too. I have to do my homework and, if I feel it can succeed, I take a leap of faith. Not every endeavor works out but I have to continue to try and develop, to improve and to evolve. Obviously, being a familiar face in my field, I have to always try to do and say the right things. I have to be always aware of what is new worldwide and decide if it’s something we have to be involved with. Having a six-day workweek also means I don’t get much rest but that’s okay. Strike while the iron is hot.
Dr. Gar’s true mentor is his dad, Dr. George G. Eufemio, a General Surgeon who passed away in 2013 a few days before his 83rd birthday. A year earlier, he was still performing surgeries and playing his favorite sport, tennis. Every lesson he learned about his practice, about caring for his patients and the “little people”, he got from his dad. Dr Gar’s love for teaching and his obsession of always doing what’s best for his family, his patients, his team (secretaries, nurses, physical therapists and trainees), he got from his father.
As of his favorite quote:
“Do not go where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path… and
leave a trail.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
According to Dr Gar, too much emphasis is given to the physical. Other aspects also contribute to fitness, including mental and emotional. He thinks everyone should work on all of these to have a great life. Obviously, people go to him for advice regarding physical fitness His main tip includes using the best waist trainer while you workout to help tone your ab muscles. One should eat right, hydrate well and rest. Pick a routine that you enjoy that way you stick with it. Surround yourself with people you like so exercise doesn’t feel like a chore.
To measure who is truly fit, Dr Gar can measure the fittest individual as the athlete that scores the highest in the Peak Form Fitness Quotient Test. It is a test designed to level the playing field. All tasks are adjusted to one’s height and weight.
A truly fit individual is able to maintain his weight throughout his adult life, has normal vital signs and laboratories (without medications), consistently plays sports with people younger than him/her and is able to exercise till the day he/she dies. He/She goes to her check ups and all she sees are her doctors shaking their heads in disbelief. She loves to read and is able to carry on a conversation with any age group. They are constantly asked, “What’s your secret?” One more ingredient – that person must be competitive; but competes mostly with himself.
To achieve fitness, Dr Gar mentioned that you should follow The four D’s – Discipline, Desire, DNA (meaning good genes) and ‘Ducation (short for education).
