WHEN MEDICINE IS A TEAM SPORT

Want to beat your personal best at your next marathon, or perform at peak strength for a regional tournament? Maybe there’s a nagging pain that’s preventing you from doing your daily walk or taking part in daily activities? Sports doctors such as Dr Teoh Chin Sim make it their goal to help people be as active as they want to be for as long as they want to.

Dr Teoh, a Senior Consultant and Director of the Sports Medicine Centre (SMC) at KTPH, explains that Sports Medicine is a branch of medicine that deals with the treatment and prevention of injuries related to sports or other activities, exercise prescription, and functional movements. The centre sees a wide spectrum of patients across age groups, from professional and recreational athletes to students and National Servicemen, and from blue-collar workers to professionals and retirees.

“Our goal is to encourage and support people to remain active throughout the age continuum, educating them on how to prevent and manage injuries,” she explains. This can mean treating both chronic as well as acute issues.

SPORTS MEDICINE FOR EVERYONE

“The demand for Sports Medicine is rising,” Dr Teoh states. More and more people are adopting an active lifestyle. A large proportion of the newly active are not people in their 20s, but those in their 40s and even 50s.

“This is a positive trend, but this group of people may require additional support to achieve their goals, particularly if they had previously led a sedentary lifestyle, have an existing chronic illness, or suffer from an age-related issue,” she advises. The department also treats people on the other end of the spectrum: professional or serious athletes of all ages.

But Sports Medicine is not just for athletes. “We tackle real-world problems,” emphasises Dr Dinesh Sirisena, Consultant. From taxi uncles with stiff necks to technicians suffering from wrist pain, SMC solves everyday problems that interfere with their daily function. “Apart from treating people who are sporty, it is also about treating uncles and aunties who want to go to the market, take walks, or do their work,” he says. Dr Teh Kong Chuan, Senior Consultant, reveals, “I see patients who are in secondary school to those in their 70s. A significant number of them are national servicemen, as well as recreational sportspersons.”

Apart from treating people who are sporty, it is also about treating uncles and aunties who want to go to the market, take walks, or do their work.

DR DINESH SIRISENA CONSULTANT SPORTS MEDICINE CENTRE KTPH

GIVING PATIENTS OPTIONS

Shockwave therapy, for instance, is a non-invasive treatment used to ease inflammation and speed up recovery of injured muscles, tendons and other soft tissues. Pressure waves are transmitted to the affected areas to stimulate the body’s natural healing response and relieve pain.

Dr Teoh Chin Sim, Head of Sports Medicine Centre, providing extracorporeal shockwave therapy treatment

“To address the diversity of patients as well as the range of conditions, the SMC has, over the years, grown its range of services,” Dr Teoh shares. This includes acupuncture (turn to page 24 to find out more about this), extracorporeal shockwave therapy, and ultrasound-guided procedures.

The SMC also offers a number of unique ultrasound-guided injections. Dr Ong Joo Haw, Consultant, explains that ultrasound imaging allows doctors to clearly visualise musculoskeletal structures. “We can then guide an injection more precisely into the intended region,” he describes.

In the past, such procedures would require a separate appointment and may include the use of more exposure-prone imaging modalities, such as X-ray or CT. In contrast, this ultrasound-guidance can be done in the clinic, with considerable accuracy, in a timelier fashion and at minimal risk to the patient. Examples of ultrasound-guided injections include high-volume tendon stripping by identifying the precise areas between tendons and tendon sheaths, and platelet-rich plasma and prolotherapy injections for tendon and ligament injuries. Another benefit of ultrasound-guided injections is that “it allows us to offer more alternatives to patients”.

TEAM EFFORT

Offering alternatives and treatment options to patients is part of the job, shares Dr Shauna Sim, Resident Physician. “We work with active people, many of whom find it frustrating to rest for extended periods of time,” she says. “We do our best to support and educate patients on how they can moderate their activities and find alternatives so they can remain healthy.” A former national water polo player, Dr Sim found herself drawn to this specialty partly because she benefited from it in the past as a sportsperson.

Dr Teh, who has been practising sports medicine since joining the Sports Medicine and Research Centre of Singapore Sports Council (now Sport Singapore) in 1977, adds, “I enjoy helping patients with their sports injuries, to help them recover as soon as possible so that they can return to their sports and physical activities. I also encourage patients to keep fit with regular exercise.” The SMC is staffed by active people: Dr Teoh is an avid runner, Dr Teh walks daily, Dr Ong is a powerlifter, and Dr Dinesh cycles and plays golf; many of their colleagues in the Centre are equally active.

The Sports Medicine team: (LEFT TO RIGHT) Dr Dinesh Sirisena, Dr Shauna Sim, Dr Teoh Chin Sim, Dr Teh Kong Chuan and Dr Ong Joo Haw

It all lends to a collaborative spirit at the Centre, one that Dr Ong likens to a team sport, with the patient playing an active role in his or her own recovery. “We take care of the patient as a whole. We diagnose and treat as a team, working with radiologists, physiotherapists, podiatrists, surgeons, acupuncturists and dietitians to come up with a plan to help individuals achieve their goals.”

Dr Dinesh adds, “As active people ourselves, the team has experienced sport injuries before and understand it from a personal perspective. This means we can relate to patients better and offer some reassurance and empathy.” Dr Sim feels this underscores the meaning of what they do each day, saying, “I believe that sport and exercise are beneficial to people. I find it very meaningful to be able to come up with a plan to get people back to their chosen activities.”

OUTREACH AND ENGAGEMENT

The team also finds it meaningful to give back to the community through their work. This takes the form of medical coverage for sports events and growing sports medicine know-how.

For instance, SMC — together with the Orthopaedics Department — has run for the past three years the highly successful Sports Medicine Masterclass Series for General Practitioners (GPs), educating them on various sports and muscoskeletal conditions. In addition to expanding knowledge, it provides GPs with an opportunity to improve their skills in early rehabilitation, acupuncture, and the recognition and diagnosis of conditions.

Another area of skill-sharing is through the Alexandra Academy for Clinical and Emergency Sonography (AACES), where medical professionals are given an introduction and early training in the use of ultrasound for musculoskeletal medicine.

“It is all part of our outreach and engagement efforts, sharing the love for both medicine and sport,” reveals Dr Ong. “When you are surrounded by people who share the same interest, work doesn’t feel like work.” It motivates him and his colleagues to do better as sportspeople, as doctors, and as human beings.