Mharakurwa speaks on injury

26 Oct, 2014 - 00:10 0 Views

The Sunday News

FROM 2008 to 2012 he was consecutively crowned the country’s Sportsman of the Year with a Disability. That was no easy feat, and yet that is precisely what Zimbabwe’s tennis ace with a disability Nyasha Mharakurwa has achieved in an illustrious career that is now threatened by an elbow injury.

Born with a congenital irregularity, a physical deformity that affected his legs, the South Africa-based Mharakurwa has been sidelined with an elbow injury suffered last year. He has been out of action for about 18 months now.

Mharakurwa rose into the tennis scene during his days at Founders High School in Bulawayo, where he came into contact with his mentor, Petros Ndlovu. Ndlovu helped the then young and multi-talented Nyasha to discover his true calling, tennis.

The 31-year-old star has gone on to represent Zimbabwe at various international events including the 2012 Paralympics.

However, his recent tennis elbow injury has been somewhat of a setback.

Tennis elbow, or lateral epicondylitis, is a painful condition of the elbow caused by overuse. According to Orthopedic websites it is an inflammation of the tendons that join the forearm muscles on the outside of the elbow. The forearm muscles and tendons become damaged from overuse — repeating the same motions again and again. This leads to pain and tenderness on the outside of the elbow.

“My kind of injury is a common one among tennis players and I suffered the tennis elbow around March or April last year although it was a longtime coming as a result of me hitting the ball. So, after that episode I haven’t been able to play at all,” said Mharakurwa from his SA base. He is also studying for his Masters in Sports Management at the University of Johannesburg.

Added Mharakurwa: “I then went for rehabilitation at my school and I was able to get more information about the injury — there is actually no cure for it so the best way I was told to deal with it was to continue doing exercises and allow healing to happen. I was advised to rest and allow recovery.

“However, the challenge with me is also that my elbow doesn’t rest at all because I use my hands to push the wheelchair everyday and so that makes it even harder.”

After a while, Mharakurwa went to see specialists who did a scan but could not determine anything major. He then played lightly and he started feeling the pain again.

“I was then advised after some injections to play lightly and I regret ever doing that. It turned out even worse — the pain was extremely excruciating. So, I had to do my own research online and I have since discovered instead of using my arm after the injection, I should have worked at strengthening the arm first,” he noted.

Most people who suffer tennis elbow injuries are between the ages of 30 and 50, although anyone can if they have the risk factors. In racquet sports like tennis, improper stroke technique and improper equipment may be risk factors.

Mharakurwa is now focusing on physiotherapy and exercising.

“I am positive I will be back on the court soon. At least the recovery has been natural with the body healing itself,” he said.

Mharakurwa is involved in the coaching of youngsters as a means of giving back to communities.

“I am heavily involved in training programmes with youngsters in Soweto (a township in Johannesburg). I am also a coach for Wheelchair Tennis South Africa and so I am still busy. I actually train with the youngsters about four days a week,” he said.

On the state of tennis in Zimbabwe, Mharakurwa said:
“There is no doubt about talent in Zimbabwe and the few players we have have shown that they can compete and do well on many levels. Sherperd Banda and Brian Mafuvise have done well and they also did very well especially in South Africa last year. However, besides the lack of sponsorship, we need to run our sport better which is not happening right now. It’s easy to say we have no resources, but no one will support us if we don’t show that we have proper structures and programmes.”

Mharakurwa said his greatest inspiration was how far he had come and expresed hope that the future would always be brighter as he puts more efforts in all his endeavours.

 

Share This:

Survey


We value your opinion! Take a moment to complete our survey

This will close in 20 seconds