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Doctor Warns about Excessive Exercise Programs

Doctor Warns about Excessive Exercise Programs

A Dubai-based doctor urges slimmers to go easy, after treating numerous patients with joint damage

With the UAE featuring high on the list of countries with overweight individuals, it is a fair bet that many of us have taken up a New Year’s resolution to trim off the pounds by starting a well-intentioned jogging programme. But if this is the case, then go easy, unless you want to hurt yourself. This is the message from a Dubai-based doctor specialising in sports injuries, who has some strong advice for anybody who is overweight and considering taking up running. Don’t overdo it, he says, as you may cause yourself some serious damage.

 

 

The warning comes from Dr. M. Ashfaq Konchwalla, an Orthopaedic Surgeon at Medcare Hospital in Jumeirah, who has become alarmed by the number of patients who have presented at his surgery over the past two years with damage to their joints after pounding the city’s pavements and parks in a bid to get into shape.

“I’m very happy that people in Dubai are taking their health seriously and are doing what they think is the right thing to lose excessive body weight,” he said. “I am finding that some people are trying to do too much too quickly and are presenting to me with severe pains in their joints, in particular their knees.”

 

“I’ve recently had consultations with a large number of individuals who have presented to me with joint injuries sustained through excessive work-out regimes that have placed far too much stress on their bodies,” he added.

 

Dr. Konchwalla revealed that out of 120 exercise-injury patients he has treated since December 2007 (65 female and 55 male), 50 had experienced problems with their knees, 22 with their backs, 14 with their ankles and 10 with their shoulders. Four had damaged their wrists, with the remainder having sustained injuries to either their calf muscles, thigh muscles, faces or elbows. “These patients presented with more-or-less the same story,” he says. “Four out every five of them were overweight to varying degrees and all had either been running, using the treadmill for long periods, or undertaking other strenuous activities. They came to see me after developing pain in their ankles, backs, or most commonly, their knees,” he adds. “What has made me particularly concerned is that in most cases, the injury sustained had occurred in the first week of them taking up exercise.”

 

The statistics within this group of patients reveal that it is the knees that bear the brunt of such over exertion. Of the 120 who arrived at Dr. Konchwalla’s clinic, 30 had to go for exploratory surgery in the form of an arthroscopy to assess the full extent of their injuries. Nearly all of them were able to return to regular exercise after a period of recuperation.

 

Dr. Konchwalla has a great deal of experience in treating sports-related injuries, having trained extensively in the UK and worked closely with the country’s professional rugby clubs. He was a foundation member of the UK’s Faculty of Sport and Exercise Medicine and his extensive involvement in treating pitch-related injuries has led to him becoming associated with some of Dubai’s leading amateur sports organisations. He has some professional advice for anyone considering taking up exercise in order to lose weight. “The important thing to remember is to not try too much too soon,” he says. “Start with light aerobic exercise and progressively increase the regime over a period of weeks.”

 

Exercise should be conducted at a low level to begin with – even a brisk walk three times a week, or 10 minutes on the treadmill at a low rate is a good way to begin. Another fundamental principle is to warm up before starting. Stretching and doing warm up exercises for at least 20 minutes before a work-out is essential and is something I advise even the fittest athletes at the sports clubs I am involved with to do. After the exercise has been completed, it is also important to cool down again for at least five minutes to ease the body back to its normal state,” he adds.

 

Having treated such a large number of patients experiencing the same phenomena, the importance of exercising safely – especially when carrying extra pounds – is something that Dr. Konchwalla is keen to impart. He believes strongly that people should seek professional advice before attempting weight loss programmes and cites the fact that only a small number of the patients he had treated had sought the advice of a professional instructor. He also stresses that appropriate clothing and footwear should be incorporated within a successful regime. “Four of the patients I saw that had injured themselves had bought new training shoes, but these were inappropriate for the exercises they were undertaking,” he says. “Unfortunately, not many shoe salespeople will know the correct footwear a person should buy for exercising, so it is important to seek proper advice from a professional to make sure that injuries don’t occur,” he adds.

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