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A date with the doc fights injury

Consult a medical practitioner before you put on your jogging shoes

ROUTINE: Consult your doctor before you begin any exercise

The standard advice for any sedentary person taking up exercise is this: see a doctor first. Most ignore this advice, and most do not suffer any ill effects from ignoring medical advice. Some do, however, and the results can be fatal.

For example, the sedentary man who, on his 50th birthday, turns his back on chain-smoking and drink and takes up jogging without consulting a doctor may have a heart attack on the road.

A visit to the doctor might have revealed a background problem of coronary artery disease and led to a gentle introduction to much-needed exercise. Some people simply need a doctor's assurance before taking up exercise.

Weight training, for example, is a risky proposition for someone with a weak back. But it can be done if the right precautions and weight-handling techniques are used.

A doctor's job is to determine what exercise is best for a person with a particular medical condition and to identify exercises and movements that might be harmful.

Anyone with heart, lung and kidney disease should see a doctor before beginning a new exercise programme.

A heart attack survivor will require gentle mobilisation under medical supervision.

A visit to the doctor will teach asthmatics when not to exercise and what to do if exercise induces an attack (a common occurrence).

If you are obese, have high blood cholesterol or diabetes, exercise is a wonderful lifestyle change for you.

A visit to the doctor will help you chart a programme that will set safe goals for you. It will also teach you to adjust medication to suit your lifestyle.

For example, insulin requirement falls with exercise, and failure to adjust dose may result in dangerous hypoglycaemia.

Pregnant women need regular visits to the doctor anyway, and a doctor's advice will help avoid rough exercise, and will also be a safe introduction to exercises that will make labour easier.

Men older than 40 and women older than 50, smokers, and those with a family history of heart disease need a basic evaluation before exercising.

Those with chronic joint ailments will benefit from swimming pool exercises.

But each joint condition is unique, and a competent physician will help identify exercises that are beneficial and weed out exercises that are harmful.

RAJIV M.

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