AMSSM 2015 Travelling Fellowship — Chapter One

October 18, 2015 by

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It’s a dog’s life as an AMSSM Travelling Fellow — Middelvlei Farm Winery. Photo: Dr. Alison BrooksIt’s a dog’s lifeThat is what I have been living over the last ten days.

It’s a dog’s life.

That’s what I have been living the last ten days.

I have been travelling through the country of South Africa as one of the 2015 travelling fellows of the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM).  I have had the privilege of sharing this journey with one of AMSSM’s founders, Dr. Doug McKeag, and one of the organization’s bright young starts, Dr. Alison Brooks.

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One American’s contribution to Springboks’ pride

We have all enjoyed the extraordinary beauty and hospitality of our hosts.  We’ve given talks (and drunk excellent wine) at Stellenbosch University, outside of Cape Town, as we visited Dr. Pierre Viviers. We’ve done similar ‘work’ (talks and, yes, more wine) at the rival University of Pretoria, where we have been hosted by Drs. Phatho Mondi and Christa Janse van Rensburg. We spoke both to students of the university and, in a separate session, to sports medicine clinicians at the University’s affiliated High Performance Centre. At each place we’ve seen extraordinary sports medicine work being done and have been exposed to sports ranging from cricket to rugby–in the latter case we’ve found ourselves shifting allegiances (rooting for the ‘Maties’ in Stellenbosch and the ‘Tuks’ in Pretoria); we’ve watched professional Currie Cup rugby live and Springboks Rugby World Cup games in a sea of national green and gold surrounding televised feed.

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Drs. Carl Askling & Phatho Zondi (SASMA president-elect) enjoying some time together before SASMA2015

It has already been an extraordinary journey, but it will not end until we have enjoyed the three packed days of the 16th biennial congress of the South African Sports Medicine Association (SASMA), the highlight of our trip.  Among the speakers will be Sweden’s Carl Askling, the premier voice on the management of athletic hamstring injuries.  Carl has become one of the many new friends I have made on this trip, as we’ve shared some close encounters of the elephant kind on safari.

From “Learners to Leaders,” that’s the theme of SASMA2015, and for sure South African sports medicine is in the lead in so many respects.  I look forward to meeting so many more people associated with sports medicine in Johannesburg.

There is so much more I could write, but I’m very very busy……well, um, in a special kind of way.  Indeed, I need to do some last minute preparations on my several talks for SASMA, and there is the ever-present email inbox where some work from overseas still calls my attention overseas.  And, yes, there is the ‘work’ of getting ready to view more African wildlife and enjoy more of the superb culture and food that this special country has to offer.  Such are the true joys the AMSSM Travelling Fellowship has to offer.

I know this will not be the last post I will be filing from this visit, as I will be sure to have some in depth sports medicine content to share as the SASMA proceedings progress.

And so until next time:  Totsiens, Hambani Kahle, Good bye!

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The End

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South Africa — here we come

September 28, 2015 by 2 Comments

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The flags of the USA & RSA: South Africa, here we come!

It’s Monday, and in a busy American football season that means a clinic full of Friday’s injuries.  Some interesting stuff came my way today, including a jersey finger, an angulated 1st metacarpal fracture which needed a closed reduction, and an OCD lesion of the knee in a youth.

When not focused on those clinical encounters, I find my mind straying elsewhere, as 10 days from now I will join a couple of other folks from the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM) for a 2+ week tour of the sports medicine scene in South Africa. Dr. Doug McKeag, a former president of AMSSM,  Dr. Alison Brooks and I will be the AMSSM ‘travelling fellows’ heading out on this tour.  Our hosts there will include Jon Patricios, Phatho Zondi and Piere Viviers, among others, of the South African Sports Medicine Association (SASMA), and we’ll be culminating the trip with a visit to the 16th biennial congress of SASMA taking place 20 – 22 October in Johannesburg.

South Africa has a powerfully strong sports culture, which I’ve witnessed first hand when I last travelled to that beautiful country 20+ years ago.  I think of the great rugby and cricket teams the country has fielded [the former battling in the Rugby World Cup right now].   I think of the dominant golfers, Gary Player, Ernie Els, and a new generation headed by Louis Oosthuizen and others. And who could leave out mention of one of the premier ultramarathons on the planet, the Comrades Marathon, or the cause celebre of Caster Semenya.

The country has fielded an equally powerful team of sports medicine physicians and researchers over the years, many of whom have graced the journal pages and other media of CJSM.  I think of Tim Noakes & Jon Patricios.  I think of the research on hyponatremia and exercise-associated muscle cramping and more.

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Table Mountain & its table cloth– we’ll be there soon. Photo: courtesy of Shizhao

As we AMSSM fellows travel from Cape Town, to Pretoria and Johannesburg, we’ll be telling our stories on this blog and on social media.  If you’re on Twitter or Instagram, be sure to follow the hashtag #AMSSMTravellingFellows as Drs. Brooks, McKeag and I share our stories and our pictures.  SASMA2015 will have a bevy of the world’s ‘top dogs’ in the sports medicine world.  Folks like Drs. Lyle Micheli, Jonathan Drezner, Cindy Chang, and Karim Khan will be speaking at SASMA2015, and we’ll profile what they have to say on hot topics in the world of sports medicine.

I’m off to pack.  I can’t wait to get to the land of the Springboks and Proteas, of Table Mountain and the Witwatersrand.  More soon!

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CJSM Podcast 8: A Conversation with South Africa’s Jon Patricios

April 7, 2015 by 1 Comment

Our newest podcast guests jsm-podcast-bg-1Jon Patricios, M.D., the current president of the South African Sports Medicine Association (SASMA) and the 2015 Travelling Fellow of the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM).

Dr Patricios is currently Director of the Morningside Sports Medicine Unit and a sports physician at The Centre for Sports Medicine and Orthopaedics in Johannesburg. He is a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine, the Faculty of Sports & Exercise Medicine (UK), and the International Sports Medicine Federation.

Dr. Patricios has been a team physician to school, club, provincial and international sports teams in rugby, cricket, soccer, athletics and basketball.  He is a member of the Cricket South Africa and SA Rugby medical committees and the Rockies Comrades Marathon Panel of experts. He is chief medical officer for the MTN Qhubeka cycling team and the Kaizer Chiefs Football Club; founder and Director of Sports Concussion South Africa; sports concussion consultant to World Rugby; and serves on tribunals for the South African Institute for Drug Free Sport.

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Dr. Jon Patricios, President of the South African Sports Medicine Association

He has authored a case report on thoracic outlet syndrome in CJSM and is someone I have collaborated with on a talk focused on the use of social media by sports medicine clinicians, given in Orlando, Florida  at the 2014 meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine.

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Jon Patricios, Speaking at ACSM 2014 on Social Media for Sports Medicine Clinicians

Somehow, among these many duties, he found the time to sit down for a chat, which you will find here in the podcast.  Thanks Jon, and we’re looking forward to seeing you soon in Hollywood, Florida at #AMSSM15 !

[check out all of our podcasts and subscribe to the feed too, on iTunes]

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