‘Marma’ cure for sportspersons

Back-strain, ligament tear, tennis elbow, groin injury, shoulder dislocation, sprained ankle, sportsmen, these days, find a villain in injuries. What’s more disturbing, at least, in a few cases such sports injuries had even proved fatal.Aggrieved by such episodes founder of Edakkad-based CVN Kalari in Kozhikode T Sudhakaran Gurukkal had written a letter to the director (sports & youth affairs) for the inclusion of Kalari Marma Chikitsa specialists in the sports medical panel.Gurukkal, in his letter, pointed out how 14-year-old Shanto died last month during a football match. He also drew the authorities’ attention to the death of Christiano, a member of Goa team, who died during a football match in Bangalore.“Both the victims died to ‘marma’ injuries. Though they’re taken to hospitals, doctors couldn’t do anything,” he noted. Gurukkal said, if only the victims had access to a Kalari Marma expert they certainly would’ve survived.“Marma is the only remedy to treat such injuries. In fact, it would’ve taken only a few minutes for a ‘marma’ expert to revive them”, he said.Kalari Marma Chikitsa, interestingly, is an exclusive medical heritage of Kerala with no parallels anywhere.Its intervention is effective as it identifies the vital parts in the body for comprehensive injury management.“In the event of a ‘marma’ injury death happens in a few minutes. There’re 107 vital spots in the body of which 64 are vital. Of this, injuries caused on three spots, including neck, chest (sternum) and naval could prove fatal,” Gurukkal told .Gurukkal said, he’d also suggested training umpires, referees and physical education teachers in ‘marma’ treatment. “Presently, only allopathy, ayurveda and homeopathy are allowed in treating sports injuries. There’s a great amount of ignorance on the part of authorities about ‘marma”, he said. Notably, the Kalari Centre being run the Gurukkal is the only one to have won the state government tourism award so far.Gurukkal has been campaigning for the inclusion of Marma Chikitsa in the management of sports injuries by organizing seminars and workshops.B

Source:Deccan Chronicle