In the NEM Practitioner Series Dr Shami, Integrative GP and ACNEM Vice President, speaks with medical and health specialists who are practicing nutritional and environmental medicine (NEM), to get their personal insights and learn how their approach is transforming lives.
In this interview Dr Shami chats with Orthopaedic Surgeon Dr Jitendra Balakumar. In less than 20 minutes they cover:
- Dr Balakumar’s journey into nutrition as an orthopaedic surgeon.
- What areas in orthopaedics does nutrition have a massive impact?
- What are the two supplements Dr Balakumar recommends for perioperative and preoperative treatments
- What is a low inflammatory diet, why is it helpful and why it can be contentious?
- How do you address the sensitive issue of weight management?
- What patients outcomes have you seen resulting from dietary changes?
- Dr Balakumar’s personal health protocol and thoughts on fasting
Dr Jitendra Balakumar, Orthopaedic Surgeon
Dr Balakumar is a highly trained orthopaedic surgeon with a expertise in lower limb surgery, namely, joint preservation surgeries of the hip (hip arthroscopy, osteotomies and impingement surgery) and joint replacement.
After he completed a fellowship at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, Mr Balakumar completed a diploma and fellowship of Knee Surgery in Paris V University in Paris, France.
In 2008 he was recognized for his talents and was accepted into the very competitive and highly sought after paediatric surgery fellowship at Harvard’s Children’s Hospital Boston. This is an American-accredited fellowship program which rarely grants acceptance to foreign-trained surgeons. There, Mr Balakumar completed a full-year of hands-on surgical training with some of the brightest minds and hands in orthopaedics. He honed his skills with emerging techniques in joint preservation surgeries across the paediatric, adolescent and adult populations.
His unique understanding of orthopaedics across all age groups makes Mr Balakumar versatile in treating these conditions being able to offer both joint preservation and replacement options. He has a number of publications in peer review orthopaedic literature and continues to present at international orthopaedic meetings. Mr Balakumar also teaches orthopaedic surgeons, trainees and medical students.