Many a Hyderabadi cricketer owes it to Physio Dr. Prasanth Panchada for putting them on track from injuries

“An army marches on its stomach,” Napoleon Bonaparte famously said. Food apart, fitness fuels sports battles and campaigns short on these rarely succeed. Akin to well-oiled machines, agility of athletes enhances performance and achievement. Making them match-ready is a highly specialised task.

“To me, the support staff was a white elephant till I heard of Dr. Prasanth Panchada from no less than VVS Laxman,” said P. Jyothi Prasad, Chairman, Senior Selection Committee, Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA).

Says left arm spinner Pragyan Ojha, “Prasanth has been treating me since 2008 and diagnoses problems correctly. When bowling for Hyderabad or India over long periods, my shoulders get stiff. The beauty of his approach lies in driving away niggles, allowing me to play freely.”

A graduate in physiotherapy from the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Bengaluru, Dr. Prasanth’s major assignments include the Afro Asian Games, the 2005 World volleyball championships in Visakhapatnam, the 2006 All India Coal Meet and working with the Sports Authority of Karnataka.

“In Hyderabad’s first Ranji match against Andhra, many expected G. Hanuma Vihari’s shoulder injury would rule him out of both match and season. Dr. Prasanth rendered immediate medical attention on the ground and nursed it so well later that Vihari played the entire season without a hitch,” said Prasad, who played alongside M.L. Jaisimha and M.A.K. Pataudi.

So was he effective in healing Ashish Reddy’s hamstring tear after the speedster limped out of the ground against Services. “I advised Mithali Raj to see Dr. Prasanth before she left for England. Now he has treated both the Padma Shri awardees from the twin cities, the other being Laxman,” Prasad, former Hyderabad and South Zone spearhead said.

Prasanth rehabilitated Pankaj Singh, down with decade long tears in both knees to enable his participation in two London triathlons at Dorney Lake, venue of the 2012 Olympics rowing event. “I trusted him fully in a four-wheeler in front, setting the pace for my cycling over a gruelling 40 km stretches on the Outer Ring Road in preparation for the big event,” said Singh, Head of Resource Practice, Global Change Delivery, HSBC.

“I aim not to just treat injuries but prevent them in the first place,” says Dr. Prasanth, also a consultant for Microsoft R & D and Apollo Clinics. His methods include muscular/ skeletal and pre-season screening, pre-game and post-game fluid level checks to formulate different programmes for different roles such as for a wicket-keeper, fast bowler, spinner or batsman.

Pool stretches and ice baths are some of the Level 1 BCCI accredited physio’s recovery techniques. “Eliminate simple errors and champs are produced,” says Prasanth, who dreams of working with the Indian team to the Olympics. His most memorable moments so far are doing the victory lap with the Hyderabad team in South Africa, 2009, finding himself surrounded by stars on the team bus and the pleasant surprise at spotting his portrait at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus / by A. Joseph Antony / March 11th, 2015