Game For Fitness

With an increasing number of children sent to sports academies each year,sports science needs better form and focus,says well-known physiotherapist Harshada Rajadhyaksha

In 2005,when Sachin Tendulkar underwent surgery in London for his tennis elbow,India woke up to the realisation,that the injury,never mind its name,was not restricted to tennis players. Most people are still unaware,that the condition,albeit less commonly,is also known as the housewifes elbow. The tennis elbow arises after overuse of elbow muscles because of constant movement of the wrist and forearm. It can happen to almost anyone including housewives,whose daily activities involve repetitive motion of the forearm, says Dr Harshada Rajadhyaksha,director of Prakruti,a sports science and physiotherapy clinic in Mumbai.

Tucked in a quiet nook of the bustling area of Seven Bungalows in Andheri in Mumbai,Prakruti boasts of an elite clientele including Sachin Tendulkar,Zaheer Khan,Mohammed Kaif,Hrithik Roshan,Aamir Khan,Archana Popat and Anil Ambani among others. Aspiring athletes,marathoners,arthritic case studies,even paraplegics between the ages of 8 to 80 are patients here.

Sports medicine as a specialised field of medicine largely remains an unexplored terrain in India. With a massive number of children as young as seven,being sent to cricket,tennis and football academies,there is a commensurate amount of injuries. There is tremendous pressure on children who are pushed into sports without parents considering their physical threshold. Injuries are taken seriously only when they start becoming a niggling cause of pain, Rajadhyaksha says.

After a degree in Physical Therapy from KEM,Mumbai,and another in pain management from Johannesburg,including other global qualifications,Rajadhyaksha founded Prakruti in 1997. Unfortunately,fitness is not ingrained in the modern urban family. Most occasions revolve around food but very few around physical activity. Gym-goers are more concerned about their looks than fitness. People come to us for quick-fix solutions,but the body can only be manipulated to a certain extent, says Rajadhyaksha.

Having understood too well the common responses to exercise,Rajadhyaksha says,that it neednt be boring or restrictive. She advocates customised workout programmes for people according to their condition,constitution and medical history. Her patients are also those,who travel frequently and have no time to exercise. Thera-tubes and thera-bands which help flex strained muscles can be carried around and are convenient as exercise aids during travel, says Rajadhyaksha.

Dr Vipul Chavda,consultant to the Governor of Maharashtra,who also consults at Prakruti,feels that the most important part of any treatment is regular follow ups. City people get caught up with the mundane issues and ignore wellness, he says,adding that games taught and played in schools need focus as fitness activities instead of as competitions.

Both doctors emphasise that with increasing commercialisation of sports,sports medicine impels more educational courses in the country. Prakruti offers a one year fellowship on Advanced Sports and Orthopedic Rehabilitation. When I started out,there was no specialised course dealing with sports injuries. Today,there is a high level of interest in it among physiotherapy students. The right courses will produce a breed of sport physiotherapists at par with international professionals, says Rajadhyaksha.

Tendulkar would agree.

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