Rajiv Gupta, 56, was at risk of heart disease and a fatty liver because of his obesity when he decided to run marathons and not be bed-ridden, taking medicines.
Back in 2008, when he had these problems, he used to weigh nearly 100kg, so he started running marathons. However, little did he know that he would injure his knee due to such strenuous activity at his age.
He thought it was a minor problem and tried physiotherapy for a few days, but when he did not get any relief, he went to the sports injury centre in Safdurjung hospital for a check up.
Gupta was diagnosed with a meniscus tear, an injury to the knee cartilage, and had to go through an arthroscopic surgery. It was a minimally-invasive joint surgery to remove 15 per cent of his meniscus and repair the rest.
Gupta, who is also a chartered accountant, said: “I either had to take medicines or cure myself through physical exercise. So I started running marathons.”
Gupta participated in a half marathon after 54 days of his surgery and a full marathon after 103 days of the surgery — something that was only possible after a proper rehabilitation regime.
“The sports injury centre in Safdurjung hospital is the nodal centre in India where surgery and rehabilitation happens under the same roof. The physiotherapists and the surgeon stay in the loop even during the recovery process. It is important for athletes as they have to recover fast and get back to their sport” said Dr Deepak Chaudhury, director of the Sports Injury Centre.
“Knee and shoulder injuries account for 90 per cent of the cases at the centre. According to the type of the injury and the sport that the person is involved in, we provide the respective strength training rehabilitation,” said Dr Chaudhury.
