Symposium of Sports Health

Prof Dr John George

I attended the one day Symposium of Sports Health in Industry held at the Perdana Hall, National Sports Institute, Malaysia in Bukit Jalil on Wednesday.
The symposium was sponsored and hosted by The National Sports Institute Malaysia (ISM) and The Malaysian Association of Sports medicine (MASM).All the key speakers were professors in sports, doctors and professional practitioners in the sports industry. It was certainly a high powered presentation on sports science and sports medicine.
Topics presented for discussions include
  - Sports events medical care.
  - Sports injury prevention.
  - Pre-participation screening / assessment.
  - Exercise in chronic illness.
  - Muculoskeletal radiology referral,
  - Nutrition and supplementation.
  -  Corporate wellness, Fitness and Health.
  - Stress management in every day work situations.
  - Physiological process of the body and exercise.

The presentations were very candid and up todate issues hightlighted. Two topics were very relevant and important for us as weekend warriors/runners ie Muculoskeletal radiology referral and Pre-participation screening / assessment.
 There are tremendous advancement in muculosketal radiology. MRI and ultrasound scanners are really awesome machines. Dynamic pictures and images are now available in ultrasound scanning and the MRI image resolutions are down to 1mm. It is now possible to see internal ligament tears, intrasubstance tears and all in high resolution colours. Diagnostic arthroscopy is a thing of the past. All these equipment are now available in Universiti Hospital (PPUM). Hey it does not mean now you can get yourself injured. Run safe OK?
Of late we have heard of unfortunate casualties in death and serious injuries in the races. I would recommend every runner conduct a self pre-participation screening/ assessment beginning of every year. Listen to your body and evaluate your medical condition. It may save your life.
The symposium recommended a prescribed questionnaire format for self evaluation before any race.

I will download and post the Questionnaires soonest.

I aslo had the pleasure to meet athletes and sportsmen/sportswomen members of our Malaysian contingent to the recent Commonwealth Games in Dehli, India. We should all be very proud of them. 12 Golds . Syabas Malaysia.

Run Safe

Allen Lai