Shrugging off injuries sustained during sports or any other physical activity is bad, could sometimes be quite bad, when it comes to fitness for field and over all bone and limb health. It may lead to benching for ever.
Many Indian players learnt it the hardest way. Many a young player’s career is nipped in the bud due to attitude of shrugging off injuries. The timely intervention by orthopaedics, especially practising sports medicine, would have saved them from life time of joint blues.
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As is rightly said- a stitch in time saves nine- joint injuries need urgent intervention. Dr Himanshu Gupta, ace orthopaedic surgeon and renowned sports medicine practitioner, reads the riot act saying, ‘never ever shrug off your injuries sustained during sport or any other physical activities. It is a double whammy when you sustain injury; your sports career is cut short and, over time, even worse could happen. Joint injuries being ignored long term have been found to have turned into arthritis.’
Dr Gupta of Amicare Hospital, Indirapuram, adds, ‘Of course, Injuries are normal during. You can not wish it away but ignoring them is what should be cause for concern. These injuries, left to worsen, are real spoil sport. I would say – Discretion needs to be the better part of valour. Rash show of bravery after joint injuries could be recipe for future immobility. Continuing playing even after injuries can result into even the end of sports career altogether.’
Dr Gupta says, ‘even a small fracture left unattended can worsen into a serious condition and can take long to heal. So, whatever the seriousness of fracture, an evaluation by orthopaedic is a must to avert any such crisis. One sustaining injuries during sports should hit the field only when his orthopaedic advises so. Teens often tend to resort to such negligence. They need to be sensitized about such fallouts. So, the first thing should be to stop playing forthwith. And next stop should be to sports medicine experts to get healed.’
Dr Gupta adds further saying, ‘It does not follow at all that one should start avoiding sports. Only that one should be wary of long-term risks from sports injuries. With early treatment and intervention, the condition can be well managed. The recovery plans offered by orthopaedic doctor needs to be followed to get healed. Occasional sprains and strains are natural event in any physical activity but if sporting humans heed the advises offered by sports medicine, injuries can even be prevented. Pain going away does not indicate that injuries are inconsequential. Injuries can silently eat into the vitals of your bone innards if left unattended’
Orthopaedics say sprained ankles and hamstring injuries may seem on the face of them a trivial matter but the fact is they are not as harmless as they seem. Effects may surface much later. Like sprain in ankle means stretching of ligaments never to return to normal. Ligament being torn presents even more serious situation. This seemingly minor event can lead to permanent spiral of condition. This makes you prone to further ankle injuries as the first injury makes it a bit unstable. Not only this, the effect percolates down to lower back and hips. Chronic stiffness may develop and can permanently impact the mobility of your limbs. But the good news is that sports medicine as a branch orthopaedic speciality has evolved tremendously to successfully attend to such exigencies resulting from sports injuries.
So, erring on the side of caution may save sports persons from lot of discomfort and risks. Shrugging off the injury ones the pain subsides is not advisable at all. Though, ironically, the actual action of shrugging off is good indication too as it shows that you are not suffering from frozen shoulders. But that is a very small consolation if one in confronted with serious risk of compromising your limbs.
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