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http://www.cphpost.dk/get/92329.html
Prayer injuries a growing problem
21.11.2005 Print article (IE & NS 4+)
Muslims pay a painful price for prostrate praying. A Copenhagen physical therapist has specialised in treating prayer injuries
Five times a day Amtul Jamil must kneel down and touch her forhead to the ground as a part of Muslim prayer. Two years ago, however, she began feeling smarts of pain running through her body like an electric current every time she placed her knees on the ground.
Despite Jamil's 61 years and a diagnosis of degenerative arthritis, her general practicioner could not explain her pain. She first realised what was happening to her when her son, who is a doctor, pointed out to her the correlation between her pain and her prayer posture.
Daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten reported that knee and back injuries caused or enhanced by Muslim prayer are relatively unknown in Denmark.
Physical therapist Teddy Jacobsen said, however, that neither doctors nor Muslims themselves were aware of the correlation.
'Some injuries in the back and knee are directly linked to the prayer posture, while others are not allowed to heal because they are strained five times a day during prayer,' Jacobsen said, adding that on the positive side, prostrating yourself five times a day in prayer could in part substitute physical exercise.
Jacobsen's interest in prayer injury was sparked in Dubai, where he worked for a year, meeting more than 50 patients suffering from physical pain made worse during prayer. Since returning home, he has met a number of Muslims suffering from similar pains.
'It's especially older people who get injuried from resting the weight of their bodies on their knees while they pray,' he said.
Imran Rashid, doctor at the Herlev Hospital, said he agreed.
'Just like carpenters and tailors can get joint injuries from repeating the same movement throughout the day, Muslims can hurt themselves by repeatedly placing weight on the same joints,' he said.
Amtul Jamid, along with five other women in her Mosque, now prays sitting in a chair to keep the pain at bay. |