Surgeon Gives Hints For Sportsmen
“The only way to avoid injury in Rugby football is not to play, but that isn’t vry good advice,” Professor Hedley Atkins, Sims Commonwealth Travelling Professor for 1961. said in Christchurch yesterday. Professor Atkins was certainly prepared to take the risk himself. A former centre three-quarters, he played for the Harlequins Club on its famous Twickenham ground for many years, and also played for Middlesex County and many times for Guy’s Hospital. Professor Atkins, a London surgeon, has always taken an interest in sportins injuries, and on Thursday
evening addressed the Canterbury division of the Neu Zealand branch of the British Medical Association on the subject. "Rugby was actually the kindest of all sports to me.” said Professor Atkins. “1 had no breakages at all playing football. I- broke a collarbone falling off a horse, suffered a broken finger and a head injury or two through other accidents, and fractured my ribs and slipped a disc when sailing, but had no breakages at all playing football.”
Invited to give hints to Rugby players on how to avoid injury, he said there was no certain way of doing this, as was proved by the fact that an injury was as likely to .occur in a friendly game as in what he termed a needle match. There were two recommendation he could
give, however—to get up off the ball pretty smartly and to keep fit. An unfit man was much more likely to get into trouble than one who had been in training. Asked whether he thought Rugby should only be played on a relatively soft ground, as suggested recently by Dr T. Morton, of the Christchurch Hospital, Professor Atkins said that in Britain matches were not postponed ’except when the ground was actually frozen. “But it is never really dry enough during the British football season to produce a hard, sunbaked ground.” be added "Don’t Overdo It” Professor Atkins gave some advice to sportsmen in middle age. “As you get older, sometimes you don't realise there’s a far lower limit to what you can do than when you were young,” he said “Be careful not to overdo things. Games like squash, for example, must be played hard to be enjoyed to the full—there’s no such thing as ‘taking it gently’ with games like these. Sometimes such a game can be too much tor a man in his 50's.”
With advancing years, one was increasingly likely to sustain a slipped disc. Pro fessor Atkins added. "I suffered this injury myself through hauling up heavy anchors while yachting.” he said. “If possible, one should always be prepared foi strain by bracing the back muscles. One should never lift heavy things with the back acutely bent: it should always be straight or, at most, slightly arched.” Asked what sports he recommended for the not-so-young. Professor Atkins said that golf was excellent, and he also commended walking, fishing, shooting, and sailing —provided one was careful with heavy anchors.
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Press, Volume C, Issue 29500, 29 April 1961, Page 10
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498Surgeon Gives Hints For Sportsmen Press, Volume C, Issue 29500, 29 April 1961, Page 10
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