Physiotherapists treat back pains of combat soldiers in, around Gaza

The Meuhedet Healthcare Services health fund has sent physiotherapists to military assembly areas at the Gilat Junction just outside and even and inside the Gaza Strip to relieve the back pains of combat soldiers who have to lift heavy equipment weighing 45 to 55 kilos. 

The teams from the third-largest health fund come from its southern district come daily to give treatments after launching a vital initiative to relieve the pain of regular army soldiers and reservists. 

Prof. Leonid Kalichman, a veteran physiotherapist for Meuhedet in Ashkelon, was looking for a way to could contribute in the best way in the first days of Operation Swords of Iron. When he asked to volunteer for the reserves, he and two of his colleagues from Beersheba’s Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU, where he is a senior lecturer were given a specific task and goal – decided to help soldiers and reservists inside and outside the Gaza Strip and to provide them with physical therapy treatments. 

Thousands of soldiers helped to date 

Kalichman said that so far, they have taken care of several thousand soldiers from the IDF’s infantry and special units and come across a wide variety of problems that needed special treatments. The extreme and rapid change from the routine life of the regular and reserve soldiers to the intense combat in the field has meant that they suffer from many stresses and much strain on their muscles. 

“One of the moments that I especially remember is the treatment of the artillery soldiers who do an amazing job, lifting shells weighing 45 to 55 kg. They work very hard physically, and they needed us and our care. They were very surprised to see us in the combat areas, under fire, and were happy to receive treatment that helped them continue fighting, he added.

Kobi Ben-Shimon, director of the health fund’s physiotherapy institute in Ashdod, added “Every day we treat dozens of soldiers with injuries and tight muscles. Sometimes they stand and walk with heavy ceramic vests for up to 48 hours at a time. We are happy to ease their physical burden, if only a little, to prepare them to go on with the fighting. The feedback we receive from the soldiers and their commanders is very positive.”