A dedicated orthopedician and arthroscopic surgeon, Dr. Rahul has made his mark in the field of sports injuries He has represented India at the SICOT World Conference, held in Muscat, Oman, on stem cell therapy. He believes medicine is about helping the needy and implementing your learning in the best possible manner for the benefit of patients.

Dr. Rahul Khanna is a Consultant Orthopedician, specializing in sports injuries as well as an Arthroscopic Surgeon at Paras Healthcare in Udaipur.

Dr. Rahul has had the opportunity to represent India at a prestigious conference called SICOT World, which was held in Muscat, Oman, where he presented his paper on Stem Cell Therapy. This was a challenging as well as a very proud and learning moment for him because he showed the world how India is on par with the latest medical technologies in the world.

Dr. Rahul idealizes his teachers, who taught him how to counsel patients about the recovery pattern. Some teachers taught him surgical skills and how to implement them. Rahul also found his inspiration in fellow doctors and seniors from various fields and managed to learn from different people overall. He feels gratitude and is very content with the learning exposure he has received from all of them.

The field of medicine is innovating and evolving with time as per the new problems patients face. The field of sports medicine is the result of one such concept. Dr. Rahul shares that sports medicine is a branch wherein the injury of a sportsman is covered from every angle. This includes preventing an injury, treating it, and rehabilitating the patient.

According to Dr. Rahul, making a career in medicine is a very challenging task. One needs to have a deep interest in this profession and have a very futuristic way of thinking.

Describing the challenging part of this field, Rahul says he believes that this field is for those who are ready to dedicate their lives to this profession, along with a lot of willpower and determination. This profession demands a lot of hard work because a patient expects things from you, and emergency attention might be needed as well. Treating a human body is a complex process, and hence studying it in detail involves a huge responsibility on the part of the doctor.

He emphasizes the fact that the importance of this field is increasing day by day because the youth are willing to make a career in sports now, and the government also has a good inclination towards this field. Hence, the more we are, the more likely we are to get injured and seek treatment from specialist doctors.

Dr. Rahul explains stem cell therapy, a process that involves transplanting stem cells from our bodies to treat diseases. This process increases the healing potential in the impacted area and reduces side effects. Rahul mentions that in the post-COVID phase, the need for stem cells has increased because of new medical conditions arising, like osteonecrosis, i.e., the shrinkage of bones. Hence, to cure conditions like this, stem cell therapy is a great help.

According to Rahul, a career is a combination of education and experience, wherein education is the framework that builds your thinking and the rationale behind things.

Success for Rahul can be defined as a combination of experience and the feeling of fulfillment you achieve when you learn something and implement it for the betterment of yourself as well as society. Rahul says that education provides a framework to stand on, whereas experience is the technique to implement education in the best possible way.

Rahul shares that his career till now has been a vast learning experience for him. Since childhood, he has traveled to places for education and has been exposed to several different cultures. When he went to South India, he experienced a lot of rich cultures and explored new places. This was the first time he went far away from his family, and he thus made many new relationships as well. When he got married, he traveled with his wife, a gynecologist, for study purposes as well as rejuvenation.

Advising the aspirants coming into the medical field, Rahul shares three points to be taken care of to excel in this field: willpower and determination towards the goal, dedication to your work, and commitment towards the field. Rahul adds that medicine is not about earning money but rather about devoting oneself to helping the needy, irrespective of time, social status, money, or family expectations. He says that even in the early hours, a doctor must be ready to help his patients and be committed to helping their patients. It is also the responsibility of the doctor to implement his learning in the best possible manner for the patient’s benefit.

Belonging to a middle-class family, Dr. Rahul considers living up to the expectations of his parents as his biggest achievement. Giving recognition to his parents and contributing to society has made him content and fulfilled. His parents always wanted their son to excel in his field, and Rahul feels that he has been able to fulfill the same and give that kind of recognition to his parents.

Dr. Rahul belongs to Udaipur, the city of lakes. He did schooling and spent his childhood in his hometown. He completed his 10th grade at St. Anthony's Senior Secondary School, Udaipur. He did his high school at Central Academy Senior Secondary School. He qualified for the All India Pre-Medical Test to pursue his MBBS from Thanjavur Medical College in Chennai. He did his post-graduation in the Department of Orthopaedics at RNT Medical College in Udaipur. He completed the degree course in MS Orthopaedics at the Rajasthan University of Health Sciences.

After completing his post-graduation, Rahul went to Vadodara and worked at Welcare Hospital, a joint replacement center, for two years as a joint replacement fellow under Dr. Bharat Modi. After learning here for two years or so, Rahul went to Oyster & Pearl Hospital in Pune to learn about sports medicine and did a course here under Dr. Sachin Tapasvi. For the next one and a half years, he studied in detail sports medicines and arthroscopic surgeries to later implement the same in Udaipur.

Coming back to Udaipur, Rahul initially started as an ad-hoc faculty member at RNT Medical College, where he did laparoscopic joint surgeries. After that, he worked at GBH American Hospital, the second-largest hospital in Udaipur, for eight years, where he worked as an arthroscopy and joint replacement specialist. For the past two years, he has been working at the Paras Healthcare Hospital, where he is guiding the department of sports medicine, arthroscopy, and joint arthroscopy. This involves treatment and surgeries for shoulders, buttocks, knees, and ankle joints. This also includes educating people about possible injuries while playing sports and curing them.

If given a time machine to travel back in time, Rahul would like to go back to the past and grab the opportunity to learn medicine abroad, as suggested by some of his friends and seniors during his college years, to explore the opportunities in this field. He would like to explore more about sports dynamics and sports kinematics, where we study the different motions of athletes to increase their overall outcomes.

In his spare time, Rahul likes to swim, as it feels like meditation to him. He also loves traveling and exploring new places. He likes sports like badminton, and he has also represented his school at the district level. He likes spending time with his kids and playing badminton with them. Reading research articles related to his field, gadgets, artificial intelligence, robotics in medicine, etc. also takes his time.

Rahul shares that recently he was in Mumbai for a robotic joint replacement surgery, where he and a surgeon were able to accomplish the same. The efforts put into this surgery were reduced due to the robotic help, and efficacy-wise, the results were better and more precise. Thus, AI has played a huge role in the same, and Rhul feels that AI will be of huge help to the world in the coming days.

Joint replacement, also known as soft-tissue balancing surgery, is like resurfacing the damaged surfaces. He believes that orthopedics are like carpenters who remodify the surface with some devices to make the joint something new and favorable again. The damaged tissues are replaced with new ones, and the surface is fixed using bone cement, which keeps the ligaments and the soft tissues balanced to move your joint again, as at a younger age.

Usually, Rahul likes to sing the song “Aey zindagi gale laga le,” which always makes him feel rejuvenated. Also, the song "Khamoshiya" by Arijit Singh is very close to his heart.

Dr. Rahul gives a parting message to all youngsters, saying that whatever we do, we must do it with the utmost dedication, and the results will be very fulfilling for whatever we strive for. We must commit ourselves to give our best with honesty and in such a manner that it never harms others.