Medical advancements such as arthroscopy greatly helped sportspersons who were prone to injuries, said J. Ramdas, former captain of Under 19 Indian cricket team, while inaugurating Arthroscopy and Shoulder Surgery Conference at Velammal Medical College Hospital and Research Institute here on Sunday.
Reminiscing his days as a cricketer, Mr. Ramdas said sportspersons had to go to hospitals in Mumbai to get treated for any injuries and the recovery time was long. He added that the advancements in medicine and emergence of specialities such as treatment for sports injuries helped sportspersons keep fit during the active period of their career.
K.N. Subramanian, organiser of the conference and chief of Sports Injury, Arthroscopy and Shoulder Surgery Department at the hospital, said a large number of sportspersons and one in every five diabetics faced shoulder problems.
He said the patients, however, continue to live with the problems as many were not aware of procedures such as arthroscopy. Being a minimally invasive procedure, arthroscopy would be relatively painless and the recovery time and results were much better, Dr. Subramanian said.
“However, there is a lack of awareness and training even among medical fraternity about arthroscopy. I hope conferences like this will help in bridging the gap,” he said.
Dean R.M. Raja Muthiah and president of Tamil Nadu Orthopaedic Association R. Sivakumar were present.