RESILIENCE IS BUILT THROUGH THERAPY: LUBANA
Lubana Shah had a keen interest in sports from an early age, but after having surgery when she was young, she was scared to continue being involved in the sports world with the same gusto she previously possessed. The daughter of a local football legend was intrigued by the world around her growing up. She had many interests and hobbies, such as arts and crafts, and she loved the ocean.
Lubana completed her degree in Sports and Exercise Science: a broad area of study which gives an understanding of sports performance and behaviour in sport. She currently works as a sports therapist in a prestigious centre here in Male’. In addition to her degree, she has completed a course on sports massage and is also a licensed personal trainer
We, at KALEO, sat down with Lubana to talk about her career.
Sports Therapy is a unique field, tell us how u developed an interest in this – what made you decide this was your career?
As a child, I didn’t know I was going to go into sports therapy or pursue anything related to sports, but I grew up around sports. My dad was a footballer. All my brothers and cousins played football. I saw my friends, and even my dad, get injured quite early in their careers, but I never saw anyone get proper treatment or rehabilitated. I even saw my friends stop playing after they got injured. Dr Shakeeb is a professional in this field; I was inspired by him and was quite interested in what he was doing.
I was set on biomedicine as my chosen academic field, I always knew I didn’t want a desk job. I considered going for medicine, but growing up, I was very active, moving about. I came to realise sports medicine was a very suitable area. I was very excited to find out about the course in sports medicine. I thought that this would be a very good starting point for me.
At that time, I didn’t realise that rehabilitation was going to be my forte. During my course, though, I learnt about movement, fixing people, and how to help people return to sports after an injury so they won’t need to cut their career short. That’s when I decided that this was what I wanted to do.
Can you please elaborate a little about the work you do as a sports therapist?
I do a lot of sports massages which help to relieve tense muscles, paired with activation drills. The activation drills are done to figure out the movement imbalances that limit or cause discomfort throughout a game.
Some other practices include sports taping, performance drills, stretching and treating painful areas, and management of pain to move better.
Do you think there are misconceptions about an athlete’s performance after an injury?
Usually, the injured athlete on a team is labelled as worse than a fit athlete. To be fair, though, even the average person may have non-optimal movement patterns which can be fixed/improved to move and perform better. That’s what got me interested, and my interest to learn grew as I understood it more and I fell in love with how resilient us humans are.
Do you think the community accepts sports therapy as a norm for better performance?
Not really, but slowly things are changing. I still don’t think the coaches and athletes realise the importance of therapy and rehabilitation, but we have come far from how it used to be.
In the past 2 years, I have noticed more people are becoming aware and realising the importance of rehabilitation. For instance, players are now keen on getting massages during a competition. They have started to notice they can play better, feel fresher, and perform better after a massage.
Tell us a bit about your clientele?
It ranges from elite national and international, medal-winning athletes and sports personnel to recreational sports enthusiasts to regular people who are physically active. My clients also include those who are not physically active and are dealing with different kinds of pain. Mostly, I work to heal soft tissue injury. When it comes to joints and bones, I treat people after the initial stage of consulting medical professionals and upon their guidance. In some cases, I would also be doing the assessments as well as the treating.
I have had the opportunity to be part of the medical team that travelled abroad with the team that participated in the Indian Ocean Island Games. I was taking care of the female badminton team. In that competition, Maldives claimed its first gold medal in Badminton. I am proud to say I was part of the crew who got to experience working with the team.
Can you tell us the importance of sports therapy that most people may ignore or may not be aware of?
Giving the body the necessary time to recover and heal is important. If you ignore an injury and neglect getting the right treatment, your body may get overly stressed. Ultimately, this may take a longer time to heal and recover for something that could have been fixed relatively easily.
It is always very important to execute the movements the right way. Even a single squat done in the correct formation, activating the muscles, and holding the core tight is better than doing many with a heavyweight in the wrong formation.
Are there any difficulties working as a woman in this field?
Yes, I was offered the opportunity by a few teams to be their sports therapist and to travel with them, but the offers were turned down by coaches for the mere fact I am a woman. It was disappointing as this had nothing to do with my qualification. In most international events like Euro or the World Cup, we see female therapists assisting their teams by helping players stretch or give massages right on the pitch. I will keep my head up high and try breaking gender stereotypes to prove that women can do this job and make a name for themselves too.
What would be the advice you would give to your younger self?
Don’t doubt yourself! You really are on the right track and don’t overthink.
What would your message to readers be?
Never give up – in life, there is always a second chance no matter how hard it is, KEEP pursuing your dreams.
Where do you see yourself in five years?
I would love to become more specialised in this area and pursue a master’s degree or complete another professional course to acquire more knowledge in this field. I would also love to start a studio specialising in sports therapy or any such venture of my own.
