A healthy adult, who has been very passionate about his music and taking care of his health, Chhatrapati has now been advised to quit playing the Sitar permanently due to excruciating pain in his leg and spine.
Little did Ankush Chhatrapati, 30, know that one day he would have to part with his beloved sitar due to an illness which would restrict a lot of his routine life. A healthy adult, who has been very passionate about his music and taking care of his health, Chhatrapati has now been advised to quit playing the Sitar permanently due to excruciating pain in his leg and spine.
"After my graduation in music in 2009, I was passionately focused on my Sitar playing and even played across the country. But after I started having mild shifting pains in my left leg and stiffness, sitting for long hours became difficult," says Chhatrapati.
"Initially, I ignored the pain, but a few weeks later, strong burning pain made me quit Sitar for some time and doctors visit became a routine. At first, doctors could not understand the problem and they gave me medicines for almost every routine disease including Tuberculosis," he adds.
"Ankylosing Spondylitis is a chronic disease and we receive at least 5-10 patients between the ages of 20 and 30, suffering from back pain in our OPD, every day. This is a huge number and is affecting our young population, which is worrisome," says Dr RK Wadhwa, Professor, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Safdarjung Hospital.
"We conduct X-rays, MRIs, and HLA-B27 tests to determine the disorder. Pain-killers, exercise, and heat can help, but it is a progressive illness," Dr Wadhwa adds.
Ankush is now focusing on blog writing which pays him just enough to survive and pay for his treatments (physiotherapies and some medicines). He says he spends around Rs 15,000 a month on his treatment.
Lifestyle disorder
Ankylosing Spondylitis is a chronic disease that affects males between 19-40 years, affecting their spine and legs
In a research done on 8,145 people, it was found that over 7 people in 10,000 suffer from AS. Those suffer from this disease are known to have HLA-B27 gene
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