Ludhiana, August 29
SPS Apollo Hospital here has become the first medical institution here to offer specialised sports injury treatment to sportspersons and athletes after Dr Mandeep Singh Dhillon joined as head of the Department of Orthopaedics and Trauma. Dr Dhillon, a specialist in the field of sports injury management, has just returned from Sri Lanka after a stint with the Sri Lankan cricket team in addition to working for many other professional sports bodies.
Addressing mediapersons here today, Dr Dhillon said he had acquired vast experience in management of sports injuries while tending to Sri Lankan cricketers as well as several international sprinters, rugby players and members of the Sri Lanka swimming and athletics team. “I have worked with Susanthika Jayasinghe, the queen of Asian sprinting in her management of stress fractures.” Before proceeding to Sri Lanka, he had treated and helped golf stalwarts like Chiranjeev Milkha Singh, Amandeep Johl and many other professional golfers.
According to Dr Dhillon, his special interest was management of cricket injuries. He claimed that his work with acclaimed spin bowler Muralitharan during the chucking controversy was instrumental in getting the rule altered to fit modern playing standards. “This was featured widely in the national and international press last year. A special TV programme, ‘The ESPN Cricket Show’ was devoted to this topic with Murali and Ravi Shastri present at the the show.”
Among other international cricketers treated by Dr Dhillon for cricket related injuries during his stay at Colombo included the likes of Brett Lee, Ashley Giles, James Anderson and Yousuf Yohana. Besides working with established players of Sri Lankan cricket team like Muralitharan, Marvan Attapatu, Chaminda Vaas, Kumar Sangakarra, Mahela Jayawardena and Dilshan Tillekratne, Dr Dhillon said he had guided young new cricketers like Farvez Mahroof and D. Perrera during their formative years in methods of injury prevention and rehabilitation. He was officially attached to Sri Lankan cricketers barely two weeks ago during the international cricket series involving India.
Focusing on the facilities proposed to be offered at SPS Apollo for management of sports injuries, he informed that the institution had started a full time department, which would provide state of the art services ranging from knee and shoulder arthroscopy, rehabilitation services for sports trauma and management of the common problem of sports-related overuse injuries.
The medical director of SPS Apollo, Dr Gurcharan Awasthy, and other senior consultants from different specialities were also present at the occasion.
