Hope for athletes with career-threatening injuries

A torn ankle ligament is a common sports injury, but it can easily sever the career of any promising athlete. One top Vietnamese football player found his world crashing down as his career nearly stumbled to an abrupt end after sustaining two torn ligaments to his ankle during training.

Immediately after his accident, the 31-year-old professional footballer sought urgent treatment in Ho Chi Minh City. Unfortunately, doctors were unable to provide a clear diagnosis on his condition.

Disheartened and in a great deal of pain, he travelled to Hanoi to seek hope but found none. The doctors were similarly unable to provide clarity and succour.

At this point, he recalled hearing of Dr Tan Jee Lim, an orthopaedic sports surgeon in Singapore, who is well-known in the Vietnamese football community.

“Every team in Vietnam knows of Dr Tan,” says the management representative of the patient’s team. “For normal surgeries, you may only have one or two more years left in your football career,” he says. “With Dr Tan, you can still play even after five years.”

The football player travelled to Singapore to seek help from Dr Tan at Gleneagles Hospital. Dr Tan diagnosed two torn ligaments in the patient’s ankle. Ligaments connect adjacent bones in a joint and provide joint stability. “This is one of the most common injuries for footballers – and also one of the most crippling,” shares Dr Tan.

Dr Tan proceeded to perform reconstructive ankle surgery on the patient. In this minimally invasive procedure, small incisions are made in the ankle. A thin fibre-optic camera, known as an arthroscope, is inserted into these openings to view, repair and strengthen the ankle. Such a minimally invasive procedure can reduce the pain experienced by the patient and shorten recovery times.

The operation went smoothly and the patient was discharged just one day later. Dr Tan advised him to follow up with physiotherapy once back in Vietnam to ensure his ankle maintains its optimal mobility.

The patient is slated for two more consultations back in Singapore. Dr Tan is confident that he will fully recover from the injury within three months.

Standing up and smiling once more

The football player can finally breathe a sigh of relief and the management representative is happy for his friend and teammate. “Before the consultation [with Dr Tan, my teammate was very worried and in a lot of pain,” the management representative says. “Now, he doesn’t worry anymore and I am sure he will fully recover and get back to playing soon.”

The representative had kind words for the staff at Gleneagles Hospital as well. He found the staff to be helpful and exceptionally positive, and would like to recommend his friends and other players in the sports community to seek help there.

It was fortunate that the football player had sought treatment in time, as Dr Tan explains that further delays would have damaged the cartilage in his foot and might have proved ruinous to his sporting career.

As an orthopaedic sports surgeon, Dr Tan has examined and treated a broad range of sports related injuries. “What sets us apart is our experience, our know-how,” he says. “We are very specialised and experienced in sports injuries.”

Dr Tan Jee Lim is an orthopaedic surgeon with Gleneagles Hospital in Singapore. He completed his fellowship in Sports Orthopaedics at the Fowler Kennedy Sports Medicine Clinic in Canada in 1999, and was admitted as a fellow of the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine. He usually treats a variety of conditions like ankle sprains, anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries, cartilage injuries, knee dislocations, knee replacements, knee pains, meniscus injuries, osteoarthritis, rotator cuff injuries, patella dislocations, posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) injuries, shoulder dislocations, shoulder impingement and shoulder pains.

Gleneagles Hospital Singapore
6 Napier Road, Singapore 258499
Tel: (+65) 6735 5000
www.gleneagles.com.sg

JL Sports Medicine & Surgery
6 Napier Road #05-08
Gleneagles Medical Centre
Singapore 258499
Tel: (+65) 6476 8998