Advanced rehabilitation, state-of-the-art equipment and treatments like joint preservation at the Indian Sports Injury Centre (ISIC), Delhi, are helping sportspersons recover way faster than they used to in days gone by and take to the field again far quicker than expected.
These are also coming in handy despite cases of sports injuries, particularly anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), being on the rise in the country.
National-level football player from Manipur, Madhabi Devi is a case in point. She suffered severe injuries in her right knee and her ligaments were torn badly at an event. But with proper rehabilitation, she is now back on the field in the “quickest possible time of six weeks”.
Ditto is the case with Naveen Kumar from Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), an international Judo player. He had also undergone a successful ACL surgery at the ISIC. Another Judo player from the SSB Sarabjit Singh also had a similar experience.
For their part, national Taekwondo player Ankit and bodybuilder Manthan are also among those who underwent ACL surgeries in the last 6-9 months.
“Once a sportsperson gets injured his/her entire career is at stake. Early recovery is the key to getting back on the field to resume sporting activities. Severe sports injuries are career-threatening. We have treated nearly 25 professional national and international level sportspersons, mainly from contact sports like Judo and Wrestling besides Football among others. There were nearly 80 patients from the Indian Army and other armed forces as well. We did All-Inside ACL surgeries with internal dressing/bracing,” Dr Vivek Mahajan, Orthopedic & Joint Replacement Surgeon, ISIC, told The Pioneer.
“Usually, patients with severe sports injuries take 9-12 months to recover after the surgery. We perform advanced surgery without metallic screws which takes time and at a later stage their removal is also necessary. Also at our best-in-class rehabilitation, our trained physiotherapists help patients recover quickly,” Dr Mahajan pointed out.
He further said that they performed high-end surgeries not only on Indian sportspersons, but also on professional players from Nigeria and Somalia who suffered severe sports injuries and needed early recovery to get back to their sporting arena.
Sugandh Ahluwalia, Chief Strategy Officer, ISIC chipped in saying: “Young sports persons getting injured is disappointing. But with precision and expertise, our highly trained and qualified surgeons have been reconstructing ACL. It is a bone/joint preserving procedure. Post surgeries, systematic rehabilitation is carried out to resolve all complications.”
