Tendulkar out for 4 months

[Danny]

Tendulkar undergoes surgery on elbow

Cricinfo staff

May 25, 2005



Sachin Tendulkar: laid low by a dodgy elbow © Getty Images
Sachin Tendulkar could be ruled out of international cricket for 16 weeks after undergoing surgery in his left elbow. According to The Asian Age, Tendulkar was operated upon in London on Monday.

Speaking about the surgery, Dr Andrew Wallace, the orthopaedic surgeon who examined Tendulkar, told the daily: "Sachin Tendulkar was admitted on Monday to the St John and St Elizabeth Hospital for treatment to his left elbow. He underwent a surgical procedure under local anaesthetic for a condition affecting the extensor tendons. The procedure was successful and there were no complications. He is expected to be discharged tomorrow and make a full recovery. He should be fit to play top-level cricket in approximately 16 weeks."

SK Nair, the BCCI secretary, added that the board was waiting for an update on the situation from John Gloster, the Indian team's physiotherapist. Talking to AFP, Nair said: "We are waiting for a medical report as Gloster is also with Tendulkar in England."

Tendulkar has been bothered by a tennis elbow and missed plenty of cricket last year. If the recovery period does take as long as indicated, then Tendulkar will definitely miss the triangular one-day tournament in Sri Lanka which starts on August 1, and could also be ruled out of the tour to Zimbabwe in September. He should, however, be fit to take on the Australians in the Super Series, which will be held in October.

© Cricinfo

[Danny]

'The outcomes from this surgery are generally very good'

May 25, 2005

John Gloster, India's new physiotherapist, had a high-profile case early in his tenure: Sachin Tendulkar. Nagraj Gollapudi asked him for the latest medical bulletin on the most famous elbow in India:

When you took over the Indian team you must have had a look at the elbow then. Did you fear that something like this would happen?

With a problem like this you can never really say for certain what is going to happen. But he got through the Pakistan series really well. He was very good with the protocol we set for him, but before that series we had told him we couldn't guarantee that he would be pain-free or would not have discomfort from it. But he battled through, and surprisingly for the majority of the time he was pretty good.

Did Sachin complain about any pain during the Pakistan series?

Overall he was pretty good. He had off days but they were certainly not as bad as they had been in the past.

So was surgery the only option?

During the break he was going to London and while he was there we felt that he should consult the specialists who had carried out the operation last September. We compared the sets of scans they had then along with the latest ones, and there were changes in the scans. The surgeon reviewed the scans along with myself and Sachin together, and felt that there were some degenerative changes occurring in the extensor tendons of the elbow, and these changes looked to be progressive. So with that mind he basically put the situation to Sachin, and said that once he started playing again they couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't require treatment. The option was given to him to have surgery.

Was surgery the only option?

The outcomes from this type of surgery are generally very good. I know the surgeon Dr Andrew Wallace, who is originally from Sydney and has been regarded as one of the top specialists in the United Kingdom for a long while. So after having had a couple of meetings with him and weighing up the entire situation - worst-case scenario, Sachin's level of activity, etc - we came to the conclusion that surgery was an option. Obviously, Sachin was made aware of all this and he gave the go-ahead. If he was going to play for only one more year then surgery might not have been indicated but we all agree that he has got a number of years ahead, and with those long-term prospects we felt that surgery would help that.

What do you mean by "degenerative tissue"?

It's a worn tissue. Because it doesn't have a good blood supply it becomes poor, and there is micro-tearing. By doing the surgery then you are artificially healing it - you are making it stronger and more durable.

But there is no guarantee that the problem won't recur?

There is no guarantee. But with the results that Wallace has had, he reports that he has never had a case that has come back - the worst-case scenario was that the condition was still the same as what it was pre-operatively. But the percentage of success rate is extremely high.

Does Sachin feel better now after the surgery?

He'll not be able to tell that for a while. It will be very uncomfortable for the initial week or ten days, because he has had an open surgery. He was in good spirits and very confident, though a bit drowsy.

The doctors have said it may take about 16 weeks for a full recovery. Is that right?

Yes, that's about right. We will give it the best possible chance of full recovery, and then start a graded return to strength training and then a graded return to batting.

So you are confident that this surgery will, more or less, put an end to Sachin's tennis-elbow problem?

Certainly. There are other things [we could have done], like we could just keep going and hope that day by day we would get him past each match. But Sachin is a perfectionist and an elite athlete, and for the players that belong to this category it only needs very, very minor change to upset them - to upset their rhythm, to upset their technique, to upset their concentration ... and a 1 or 2% change in the pain-level for Sachin might perhaps be enough to distract him to the point where it is upsetting his game. So we are trying to give him every opportunity to not get distracted.

Does he now need to rest completely?

For the intial four to six weeks, yes, as the tendon tissue requires that minimum period to heal. Then it's a gradual recovery to get back. Unfortunately he is left-handed, but he is confident.

Nagraj Gollapudi is sub-editor of Wisden Asia Cricket

[papa]

That has come out of the blue, I thought this injury had been resolved.

[injuryupdate]

Interesting to hear the results. With a guy the profile of Tendulkar, I would have thought that they might have used Nirschl in the US (who is the worldwide guru of tennis elbow surgery).

[jess]

he he he...tennis elbow for a cricketer ;-)

[injuryupdate]

He is lucky he doesn't bowl, or people would be saying worse things. The only bowler who ever got tennis elbow was that legendary icon of the 1970s Chucka Khan.

[Danny]

Not much info in the story below, which is a good thing. At least we aren't hearing about rehab difficulties and delayed recovery. Everything seems to be going swimmingly for the batting genius.

Tendulkar optimistic about recovery chances

Cricinfo staff

August 21, 2005


Tendulkar: "I have overcome most of the obstacles" © Getty Images
Sachin Tendulkar has said that his recovery from injury could happen earlier than anticipated. He said that he had been following the rehab programme advised by his doctors and physio, and would return only after all concerned were happy with his recovery.

Tendulkar said that injuries were a part of any sportsman's life. "If you are going to consistently push yourself hard, injuries are going to happen. At competitive levels in any sport, it's very normal to see the players go down with injuries," he told The Hindu. "As far as I am concerned, it's part and parcel of any sport. When injuries have happened to me, I have overcome most of the obstacles."

Tendulkar also said that it was natural that his body would change over the course of this long cricket-playing career. "The cricketers' bodies are also like that of normal human beings," he said. "We are probably in better shape, but it's to grow and deteriorate at stages and at a certain point one has to realise that his body cannot take it anymore. My body has not remained the same in the last 16 years."

Tendulkar further said that his role in the team was vastly different from what it had been in the start of his career. "I was aggressive when I started off, with others like Dilip Vengsarkar, Ravi Shastri, playing different roles," he said. "Then there were Azhar and Sidhu. Now I have reached that level, with Veeru (Sehwag), Yuvraj playing different roles. It's what the team needs and not about an individual. Eventually when all the things come together, it clicks."