Now, Kerala roots for sports ayurveda

Quite a few athletes from within Kerala and various parts of the country and even abroad are trickling into the state -- coincidentally in a year the state’s tourism ministry has chosen ayurveda as the focal theme.By Ashraf PadannaMisery followed the moment of glory, and teenaged Rajesh Kumar Bind knew he had to repair a vital part of his body. That is when authorities decided to send the young javelin thrower to Kerala.Last year, the 18-year-old from Uttar Pradesh had achieved a rare distinction: he crossed the 80m mark with an 800g javelin, becoming only the third Indian to do it. That feat at the National Junior Athletic Championships in Lucknow boosted Bind’s confidence to qualify for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. Then, he developed pain in the backbone.If experts advised sending Bind down-country to the Sports Ayurveda Research Cell (SARC) in Thodupuzha, it was not just because of the southern state’s reputation for practising the ancient healing system at its best in India. The Kerala government had, two years ago, set up a special wing called Sports Ayurveda to treat ailments of athletes.“Bind first came here for 10 days. He had a hairline fracture of the spine,” says Dr Mathews Joseph Vempilly, SARC convener. “Bind’s first round of treatment lasted 10 days; he then had another 25 days of therapy. By then, he showed 60% recovery.”Today, Bind is back on the practice ground with renewed vigour and determination. Predictably, Bind’s is not a one-off case. Quite a few athletes from within Kerala and various parts of the country and even abroad are trickling into the state — coincidentally in a year the state’s tourism ministry has chosen ayurveda as the focal theme.Despite the newness of the concept, athletes have reposed faith in the efficacy of sports ayurveda, according to Indian Systems of Medicine (ISM) which is spearheading the project as a unit of the state ministry of health and family welfare in association with the Ayurveda Medical Education.“In practice, though, this discipline is not nascent at all,” points out VK Ajithkumar, co-ordinator, Sports Ayurveda. It is based on the principle of Marma Chikitsa, a branch of the ancient Indian treatment system that specialises in healing of vulnerable spots and joints in the body by application of optimal pressure, he adds.Of the three major sports ayurveda facilities in Kerala, the one at Thodupuzha in Idukki, revived since December 2012, has by far maintained the best profile in the state, what with it half-a-dozen doctors (two of them specialists in Marma Chiktsa and Pancha Karma), two nurses and four therapists. The deluxe-class and non-air conditioned rooms, coupled with proven efficacy, are bringing in athletes from across the country to SARC. Noted among the names are discus thrower Seema Antil, S Narendra of CRPF, weightlifter Rustam Sarang, runners Olympians Preeja Sreedharan (Kerala), Mandeep Kaur (Punjab), Durgesh Kumar (Madhya Pradesh) and Irfan Sayeed of Goa besides long-jumper M A Prajusha.Quite a few of the athletes, in the course of recovery, are taken out to the scenic spots in hilly Idukki, informs Ajith K Ambady, a male nurse at the hospital.Such steps benefit Kerala’s tourism as well. “Their word-of-mouth publicity about the tourist places in a Kerala bears a good degree of credibility as it comes from first-hand impression,” notes a top official of the department.The new-found currency for sports ayurveda has led certain colleges in the state to think about introducing the subject as a course. Dr P K Asok, principal of Government Ayurveda College in Thiruvananthapuram, notes it will open a new branch for specialisation and create job opportunities.He recalls that Kerala, for the first time, sent ayurveda doctors for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi. “Badminton player Saina Nehwal and a number of Indian and foreign athletes showed keen interest in the ayurvedic treatment,” he notes. “This is an area which needs to be integrated in India’s medicinal system.”Upstate, in southwestern Wayanad district’s Kalpetta town, the Government District Ayurveda Hospital in Kalpetta has recently tied up with the District Sports Council (DSC). It would now enable the council’s 150-plus students — mostly tribals — to be given a regular check-up with the hospital, which would also provide them massage and treatment facilities.Wayanad District Medical Officer Vinod Babu notes that the hospital takes care of fractures unless the case is complicated. DSC’s Salim Kadavan notes that the ayurvedic treatment also ensures that the patient is spared of (unwittingly) consuming drugs that are banned by sports bodies.Kalarippayattu master KC Kuttikrishnan, who runs a school on the martial art near Pulpally, points out that the movements of the ancient system have been moulded in a way that it invites no injuries.Ayurveda helps the southern state that sends number of Indian workers in the Gulf region to attract more visitors and retain its unique position in India’s tourism map.“For the past 15 years or so, Kerala has increasingly come to be seen as the home of Ayurveda. Kerala is today synonymous with ayurveda,” said Suman Billa, the state government’s secretary for tourism.Kerala received a whopping 10.7mn domestic and 793,000 foreign tourists in 2012. Officials expect an increase of around 10% growth in foreign tourist arrivals and around 8% rise in the case of domestic arrivals this year.“Ayurveda played a major role in making tourists spend 18.2 days on an average here, which is more than double the national average. If you remove Ayurveda, Kerala can be covered in a week or 10 days,” he said.