Sport without Science

A Growing Danger for Young Athletes

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India celebrates medals, records, and sporting heroes with pride, but far from the spotlight, a quieter crisis continues to grow.

At playgrounds, school fields, district academies, and local gyms, injuries go untreated, training goes unmonitored, and young athletes push their bodies without scientific guidance. The conversation around sports development in India has focused heavily on infrastructure and competition, but not enough on the human body that carries the dream. The missing link is a strong grassroots sports medicine and injury-prevention culture — and the cost of ignoring it is already visible.

At the school and community level, sports participation is often driven by enthusiasm but rarely supported by structured medical oversight. A twisted ankle is brushed aside, recurring knee pain is dismissed as weakness, and stress fractures are discovered only when performance collapses. Many families still view physiotherapy and sports rehabilitation as elite services meant only for professional athletes. In reality, early intervention and preventive care are most effective when applied early — especially among children and adolescents whose bones and muscles are still developing.