Bengaluru: When Indian weightlifter Satish Sivalingam was struck by injuries prior to the Commonwealth Games in April 2018 in Gold Coast, he was a mere fortnight away from his scheduled flight to Australia to represent the country. His recurring knee injuries had to be treated efficiently and quickly, due to the time constraint. At the end, he went on not only to recover but also win a gold medal in Gold Coast.
At the Asian Games held in Jakarta in August, Satish picked up several extensive injuries on both his knees, thigh and spine during the competition. The local doctors at Jakarta informed him that it could take up to two months to be able to even walk properly. Yet, he was able to take his first step on the seventh day upon his return to Bengaluru, and went back to training almost immediately after.
In both cases, what were the circumstances that helped the athlete recover and compete after such suffering such critical injuries? A collaborative approach — of Western science and Ayurvedic practices — was used for the first time to help him heal. Mr Varun Shetty, Co-Founder and Performance Coach, Invictus Performance Lab, said, “We flew down to Patiala to meet and help Satish recover in time to compete at the Commonwealth Games. What we decided to use was a combination of strategies, considering how short we were on time. Some of the strategies we used were both, from the understanding of Western sciences as well as the Ayurvedic oils. After a couple of trials and errors, we noticed that his (Satish’s) recovery due to the oils enabled us to push him to a point where he could achieve the performance numbers he needed prior to taking off to Australia.”
He said, “Things can be accelerated when we use a combination of specialties and build an ecosystem around the athlete not just to support him, but also help unlock his true potential. We need a collaboration of all the integral elements of sporting ecosystem to achieve the desired goals. It is also beneficial for the athlete’s body post-retirement to help him remain injury-free.”
The collaboration was between Haoma Wellness, an Ayurvedic centre specialising in the treatment of sports injuries, and Invictus Performance Lab.
What followed in Gold Coast — the venue for Commonwealth Games 2018 — was nothing short of a majestic performance from weightlifter Satish Sivalingam. “I nearly lost all sensation of my back after a point,” said Satish. “On the day of the competition, I wasn’t even sure if I could produce my best or not, because I hadn’t trained for a few days due to my injuries. After my first lift, I felt alright and went past the first few attempts with lesser pain.
