Injuries to sportsmen are caused by sudden and unaccustomed exercises and by training too hard. These injuries occur, of course, after a lapse of longer period. When the body was asked to do beyond its limitations. To prevent sportsmen from permanent or even temporary injury and disability, "sports medicine" or "medicine of exercise" has been evolved.
Sports medicine includes injury prevention, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, performance enhancement through training, nutrition, psychology, management of medical problems caused by exercise and the role of exercise in chronic diseases.
Sports physicians, having expertise in clinical and non-clinical subjects like podiatry, family medicine, orthopaedic problems, physiotherapy, nutrition, sports psychology, exercise physiology, biomechanics, can help a sportsman in his training and workouts.
The late Dr Nishat Mallick, who specialised in the subject, first introduced the concept of sports medicine in Pakistan. He founded the Sports Medicine Association of Pakistan (SMAP) in the early nineties, organised seminars and workshops in major cities of the country to popularise the concept of sports medicine and its importance in sports.
In his lifetime, Dr Mallick had succeeded in impressing upon the physical trainers and those associated with the physical training and fitness programme for various sports events in the country, of the importance of the subject.
Stressing the need for fitness, Dr Mallick was of the view that use of right equipment and technique could help improve the skills of a sportsman. The most common injuries in sports are tennis elbow, footballers' groin, jumpers leg, golfers elbow, jumpers ankle, bowlers' elbow, boxers' arms, bowlers, back, gymnastic elbow, squash players' fingers, javelin throwers' elbow and shot putters' fingers.
Like any other sports, injuries are common in bowlers than in fielders and least common in batsmen. Fast bowlers are more injury-prone as compared to the spinners.
Fast bowlers usually suffer from injuries to lower limb, which later affects the upper limb. The least common parts of a fast bowler are his thigh, calf, ankle and knee. While the back injury is common in fast bowlers, which causes inter-articular defects, spinners commonly complain of shoulder and some time lower back injury.
This was witnessed during the Pakistan-India series played in Pakistan a few years back, when almost the entire firepower of Pakistan (fast and medium fast bowlers) was unfit due to various injuries.
The reason was that the players were either unfit or half-fit and when they faced the super-fit young Indian side, they broke down one after the other.
It is true that the players remained engaged throughout the year in training sessions to keep themselves fit, but in the absence of proper training under the supervision of a coach or sports medicine expert, they remained unaware of the techniques and requirements of their body.
One may recall that fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar admitted that he used to spend four to six hours daily on his training and exercises. His training for longer periods daily without the guidance of a trained coach has damaged his body rather than strengthening his limbs, especially upper and lower limbs. Most of the aches and pains could be avoided if looked after by the player himself. If a player was totally inactive for years, he should undergo every year at least one month proper training under the guidance of a sports medicine expert to regain his past levels of fitness.
Be fit for the task: Even if a player is generally fit, he still needs to be specifically fit for the rigorous of his particular task. Methodical exercises rather than violent and sudden efforts can help build the correct balance of flexibility, strength and endurance.
Warm-up and warmdown: Even if the body is not highly tuned and super-fit, it will perform better when warmed. Warming up requires more than a few seconds flapping the arms, as the stretching exercise for a minimum of five seconds is enough and at least another five minutes to warm down again, using stretches will not only prevent stiffness, sore muscles the next morning, but will also increase general fitness.
Right equipment and technique: The shape and size of the body differs from man to man, hence the player should select the right size of this joggers and equipment he is using for his physical training.
Disturbed over the growing incidents of injuries, particularly among the fast and medium-fast bowlers, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in the past has acquired the services of a physical trainer, besides bowling and fielding coaches, to impart physical training and work outs on scientific lines.