Like a dark angel, injury lurks in the shadow of every
sportsman, waiting for weakness. As constant cricket puts
inordinate pressure on unready bodies, it has become a constant
visitor. There has been worry over Javagal Srinath's hurt
shoulder, despair over Ajit Agarkar's shin. But when Sachin
Tendulkar boarded a plane to London to get his injured back
checked out, panic set in. It was testimony to Tendulkar's gifts
that one medical check-up seemed to put India's World Cup plans
in jeopardy.
Tendulkar's flight to London underscores his own concerns over his injury. Treatment of sports injuries is a nascent practice in India. Perhaps that's why he chose to be examined by Ken Kennedy, a Harley Street specialist and a former Irish rugby player. Ian Chappell, who was once treated by Kennedy, had recommended him to Tendulkar's agent Mark Mascarenhas last year.
Tendulkar's injury seems to have no specific cause. S.P. Mandal, a senior orthopaedic surgeon at Delhi's Gangaram Hospital who examined Tendulkar, suggests muscle overuse and fatigue could be the culprits but says it is not possible to give a definite answer. Perhaps it could be a combination of factors including Tendulkar's unusually heavy bat and his sudden passion for bowling (the pain coincidentally is in the right side of the lower part of his back).
Whatever be the cause the pain has persisted for over a month. Tendulkar's discomfort was obvious in the first Test against Pakistan in Chennai, when he often grimaced, bent over, and clutched his back through his marathon innings. As the team doctor Ravinder Chaddha put it, "He had some stiffness and then he got cramps." At that time Chaddha believed it was caused either by fatigue or dehydration.
Since the team left Chennai the day the match finished, a specialist could be consulted only in Delhi before the second Test. As Mandal recalls, "A day before the Delhi Test I got a call from Dr Chaddha saying that an important player was injured. When I was told it was Tendulkar I rushed to the hotel."
After a thorough examination, Mandal categorised the injury as "pain in the right sacroiliac muscles and lumbar regions". He says Tendulkar had some spasms but there was no tenderness or inflammation. "Tendulkar told me he had no problem running or standing. It hurt only when he hit the ball. Which is why he never took a runner in Chennai." Even an MRI scan report said everything was normal.
Since Tendulkar was very keen to play the Delhi Test, he was given analgesics and physiotherapy every night, including laser and heat treatment. His back responded well thereafter. As Chaddha says, "In his last match (against Sri Lanka in Colombo) he scored a century. If the injury is acute you can't even play."
Yet Tendulkar's discomfort remained and Kennedy was the answer. There's possibly no cause for alarm but may be there is a lesson for India here. Perhaps Tendulkar's back hurts because he has been carrying the hopes of an entire nation on his shoulders for too long.