The Times of Inida - Health, Retired Hurt?

As stadiums turn into battlegrounds and players get increasingly competitive, the demands made on their bodies reach unnatural level. Each year, dozens of sports persons are wither temporarily or permanently sidelined because of sports injuries. The most common injuries, listed in a survey by the national Sports Medicine Institute, London, range from the not-so-serious sprains, pulled and torn muscles (many of them sustained during exercise or intense physical activity) to fractures, dislocations and even head injuries.

“Most of these injuries are entirely avoidable,” says Dr. Dilip Nadkarni, an orthopaedic surgeon and sports medicine consultant. “It's all got to do with your style of play, flexibility, agility, strength, endurance and level of fitness.” it's like this. A lean player is less likely to suffer severe injuries. So will the one with stronger muscles and good flexibility.

Sports medicine experts advice that to avoid injuries it's important to start off with five minutes of low-intensity exercise before going into a tournament. A few minutes of stretching, jogging on the spot or practicing a few kicks is essential. Players need to warm up the muscles, joints and ligaments.

Football is a sport which is most susceptible to injuries. There is often rough tackling which can cause ankle sprains, knee injuries, shin fractures, slip disc, muscle tears, shoulder dislocations, neck and even head injuries. Says Dr. Nadkarni, “For blunt injuries, rest, ice, compression and elevation are enough. For dislocation, a crepe bandage would help keep the right position before going in for an x-ray. For cardiac arrest, cardiac massage or cardiopulmonary resuscitation can be done. A massage can also help avoid stiffness of muscles after play.”

In case of more serious injuries like those to the cartilage or ligaments of the knee joint, players have to go in for surgery. The torn cartilage can be removed with the help of micro instruments inserted in the joint. The ligaments of the joint can be repaired or even reconstructed with arthroscopic surgery.

In what can be counted as one of the blessings of modern medicine, an arthroscopic surgery can put a player with a cartilage injury back into action within weeks. There are hardly and scars and the joint can get full mobility very soon after surgery.

Like it did in the case of Baresi, former Italian captain during the last World Cup. The soccer star, who was involved in a rough tackle, tore the cartilage of his knee. The world thought that is was the end of his career, which fortunately wasn't so. Thought he did not play during the preliminary rounds, after and arthroscopic surgery, he appeared in the grand finale fit as a fiddle.

Cricket, may be a gentleman's game but it too has its rougher side. Players suffer from overuse of muscles, repetitive overhead motion and weak muscles due to improper or inappropriate throwing techniques. Fast bowlers suffer from shoulder bursitis or tendonitis where the arm is used in an overhead motion. The pain is usually felt at the tip of the shoulder and the upper arm. It occurs when the arm is lifted overhead or twisted. In extreme cases the pain is present at all times and it may even wake the person from deep sleep.

Tendonitis occurs when tendon sheeth surrounding and lubricating the tendons becomes inflamed, swollen and tender. Symptoms of bursitis/tendonitis usually last a few days, but they may recur or become chronic.

In such cases, says Dr. Aiyaz Ashai, physiotherapist and sports and fitness consultant “A range or motion exercises need to be done twice daily to keep the joint supple. These consists of moving the joint carefully as far as it can go in all directions. After pain has subsided shoulder muscles must be strengthened to prevent bursitis/tendonitis from recurring.

Tennis too can take its tool. Weak muscles, excessive play, repeated violent extension twisting of the wrist, jerky strokes, a lot of wrist action can all lead to an injury like the tennis elbow. This involves a small tendon arising from an area of the bone where the elbow connects to the large extending muscles of the forearm. After repetitive use of these muscles, the tendon becomes overworked and inflamed. This produces the pain on the outside of the elbow.

“In such cases surgery is rarely required,” says Dr. Hima Dalal, occupational therapist. “In most cases taking adequate rest or icing your elbow thrice a day for 30 to 60 minutes in the early stages and for 15 minutes laster, is sufficient. Stretching exercises too help prevent stiffness by breaking down any scar tissues that may result from inflammation. The player can get back into action after a sufficient gap of time.”

but that's not all. It is obvious that if you play on a maidan marked with potholes and sprinkled with stones you're going to get hurt. Our players need to have better ground conditions, better sports equipment and better facilities to ensure that they don't hurt themselves each time they push a little too hard. But in a country like India, that's another story.