Sports Injuries
Exercise is an important component of a healthy lifestyle. It can also result in different injuries. Competitive sportspeople often suffer from pulled muscles and ligaments, as well as tears of the cartilage, ligaments and muscles due to excessive training and insufficient rest. Recreational sports people and those who exercise to improve their health can also suffer from sprains and more severe injuries, especially when being overly enthusiastic.
While many minor injuries resolve within a few days with some rest and self-help measures, it is important to see a doctor for a thorough assessment and diagnosis if the symptoms persist.
The standard approach to many sports injuries involves rest, painkillers and some basic physiotherapy. This depends largely on the body’s intrinsic ability to heal itself, which is sometimes not sufficient, especially when the injury is severe, or when the patient is unable to afford to rest adequately.
Steroidal injections while useful as a way to reduce inflammation, carry the risk of infection, bleeding, steroid flares, hypo-pigmentation, soft tissue atrophy and tendon ruptures. When these treatments are not successful, there is often a sense of frustration. Athletes have to interrupt their training program, become unable to compete in planned competitions or perform less well than expected. Recreational sports people can find their momentum of sports participation affected, and also have their social plans with sports activities partners disrupted. Fortunately advances in sports medicine and medical technology in recent years have offered multiple real and effective options. Shockwave Therapy, already a mainstay of sports medicine departments of Singapore hospitals for the past decade, is one area with exciting developments. Although it used to be a very costly and uncomfortable option, new generation devices have dramatically brought down the costs of these treatments and made them very comfortable. Shockwave is now extremely popular as a way to to promote recovery from injuries.
The Indiba Activ is another good option for sports injuries. As a non-invasive treatment using externally applied radiofrequency energy, it is a well-recognized system that has been used by leading professional sports teams, hospitals and clinics across Europe for accelerated healing and immediate pain relief. It is supported by multiple medical studies, and used by top tennis player Rafael Nadal, football club Barcelona, the French Tennis Federation, as well as multiple national teams in the 2012 London Olympics.
If you are unsure how best to treat your sports injury, or if your condition has not improved despite other treatments, we are able to help.
Simply call us at +65 6732 2397 or leave a message below for Dr Tan to discuss a customized non-invasive solution for you.
What To Expect When I Visit The Pain Relief Clinic
A typical visit will involve our doctor first understanding your medical history, concerns and previous experience with other pain treatments.
For patients who have consulted many people but have yet to receive a clear diagnosis, selecting an affordable imaging scan might be recommended to confirm the cause of your pain..
Some patients have already done scans with other doctors for their pain condition but are still not clearly told what they suffer from.
Dr Terence Tan is happy to offer you a second opinion and recommend how best to manage your condition.
We also see patients who already have a confirmed diagnosis from specialist pain doctors, but are "stuck” because treatment options offered are not practical or acceptable.
We can help by discussing options that you might have potentially never been told of.
A common experience is when a patient has already consulted a specialist doctor for pain management and is told to consider orthopaedic surgery which they find too aggressive.
Or they may have seen doctors for their pain and were prescribed painkillers with potential side effects which made them feel uncomfortable.
Many of our patients have also first tried complementary treatments or acupuncture with traditional Chinese pain doctors.
They look for a second opinion after finding any relief experienced from other treatments to be temporary or requiring repetitive treatments, which add up to time and cost.
Especially in such situations, we emphasize using non-invasive medical technology you likely have not been told about .
This can make a big difference to your results.