About Rajat from Rajat Chauhan
Dr Rajat Chauhan is a Sports - Exercise Medicine and Musculoskeletal Physician, who first practices before preaching. He is an ultra runner and has done over 100 official or unofficial marathons (42.195 km).
He is the founder of the Back 2 Fitness chain of clinic that focus on getting people back to fitness and helping them to perform at their optimum levels, that could mean helping get someone out of pain (back, neck, knee, shoulder, RSI etc) or make them fitter if they don't yet have these issues but could in the near future because of sedentary lifestyle.
He is the founder of the Back 2 Fitness chain of clinic that focus on getting people back to fitness and helping them to perform at their optimum levels, that could mean helping get someone out of pain (back, neck, knee, shoulder, RSI etc) or make them fitter if they don't yet have these issues but could in the near future because of sedentary lifestyle.
He believes India has the largest unfit workforce and it is high time we changed that if we are to keep up with China and other close competitors. The employees are a lot more productive if they are fitter, and not only disease free, which is all that seems to be addressed currently. He would be happy to give talks and organize workshops at your office.
Previously, he headed and helped set-up the Sports Medicine department at Manipal Hospital, Bangalore. Prior to that he was in London, where one of his assignments was to be Musculoskeletal Medicine external consultant to Westminster PCT, National Health Trust , UK. He also headed the London centre of Kieser Training, a Swiss-German chain of musculoskeletal rehab centers dealing with back, neck, knee and shoulder pains.
From Rajat's desk:
I have been fortunate enough to have had exposure to almost the whole spectrum of therapies and treatment modalities (conventional and unconventional alike) used for back pain and to have worked (in some capacity or the other) with some of the best practitioners. The field that addresses back pain in it's totality is musculo-skeletal medicine, which has no boundaries. It comprises of fields from conventional allopathic medicine like Orthopedics, Neurology, Rheumatology, Anesthesiology, Sports Medicine, General Practice / Family Practice etc. but is very open to other unconventional modalities and therapies that could relieve pain, like manpulations, acupuncture, massage, pilates etc. UK is at forefront of this field and I was fortunate enough to be trained there. I already had an edge over the rest as I was a sports men from the age of 9 years (long distance runner) who had to manage pain well, not only ignore, but to carry on running faster, for longer.
The biggest learning while doing MBBS was to question the conventional medical approach. Treatments ranging from prescribing anti-inflammtories, to injections and then surgeries, were only addressing the symptoms. Not enough time (if at all) was being spent in educating us or patients about the main underlying problems. In my opinion the only reason for that was ignorance and superiority complex that we know it all. My training in Sports & Exercise Medicine made me more aware how to use the body more appropriately to help it perform at optimum levels, and this wasn't limited to sports people only, but for patients with aches and pains as well.
When I was doing my training at London College of Osetopathic Medicine (LCOM), I really learnt how to talk to the patient, see and touch the body, all that would be taken for granted in my earlier training. Luckily, I had been exposed to trained in medical acupuncture right after MBBS, so I did have some sense of touch. The way LCOM is structured is amazing. There would be 14-17 tutors for 3-5 trainees, and all tutors would be leading thinkers in Musculo-Skeletal Medicine with specialty training in any of the fields that comprise of Musculo-Skeletal Medicine. It almost felt like a secret society, but one that was happy to spread the word, if you were ready to listen. This encouraged me to venture out a bit more and do short courses held over UK without bothering if the faculty was from conventional allopathic medicine or not. If they had something to teach and knew about the body, I was more than happy to learn. I was attending workshops by (or in) senior physiotherapists, biomechanists, psychologists, anatomists, acupuncturists, mesotherapists, pilates teachers, alexander technique, coaches in running, golf and tennis etc. One of my mentors at LCOM had told me that 'the more you know, it'll make you aware how little you know', that's exactly what was happening with me.
I headed London branch of Kieser training, a Swiss-German chain of rehab and preventive centers, for a couple of years. Even though I got to learn and practice the power of exercise in addressing aches and pains, esp. back and neck, what I truly got to witness was what empowering the patients with pain, could do for them. Conventional approach is all about passive treatment, but the approach that needs to be taken is pro-active management of pain. Kieser, probably even without having designed it that way, excelled at it.
Along with this, I got to work as an external consultant for a certain GP practice under Westminster PCT (Primary Care Trust) for aches and pains, where this wholistic approach was being test piloted. The GPs in 2005 (probably even now) had only 7 minutes allocated for each patient. But when a patient has low back pain for a few years or more, there is a lot of story to be told. At times simply listening can find out the solution. In other cases, serious conditions were mismanaged. GPs had to normally refer patients to Orthopedician if they suspected anything serious and wanted a surgery done. From the point of first patient - doctor contact, to point of simply getting an MRI done, it could take as long as 6-9 months. On the other extreme, 'patients' were faking back pain to advantage of health benefits. My role was to triage the patients with aches and pains. If they needed MRI on urgent basis, I could fast-track them, if they needed conservative management, I could either do it myself or refer to appropriate person and obviously if they were malingering, I could address that as well.
In late 2005, I was offered by one of India's top private healthcare providers to set-up a Sports & Exercise Medicine department from scratch at their flagship hospital in Bangalore. Leave alone being a founder of a department, being head of department in hospitals at the age of 30 is rare. I created this department from blue prints, to creating a team and finally to making it run. I soon realized that 'pro-active involvement' of patients to get better is not what suits the current corporate healthcare environment. I decided to move out and do it my way, the way I was trained the patient would benefit a lot more. I set-up Back 2 Fitness in 2008 in Bangalore and moved it to Delhi in 2009.
I was to chair 2011 World Congress of Science and Medicine in Cricket, a conference that happens along with every cricket world cup. I decided to quit in late 2010 as it was difficult for me to do justice to the conference of such high repute as I didn't have much support from elsewhere. It was shame because I had got it on India's behalf against stiff competition from Pakistan where the cricket board was fully supporting it. In 2007 I was invited as an Indian representative where I spoke about Back Pain in cricketers and then organized a workshop on how to manage back pain in cricketers on field.
