Sport Medicine & Arthroscopy

Mission

To provide top-quality clinical service with educational objectives to both undergraduates and post-graduates, and to conduct comprehensive research programmes in clinical, basic and applied domains.

Vision

To assume regional leadership with international highlights of excellence and achievement.

We are the pioneer in Sports Medicine and Health Science, with important Milestones:

Clinical Service

Sport Team has been the pioneer dedicated to the prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of sports-related injuries since its establishment in 1983. Through close collaborations with various clinical departments, a one-roof, one-stop comprehensive and multi-disciplinary diagnostic, treatment and rehabilitation service is provided not only to the general population, but also to professional and amateur athletes. A full spectrum of sports-related injuries, including ligament, meniscus & cartilage injuries around the knee; instability, rotator cuff and bicep tendon injuries around the shoulder; cartilage injuries, instability, impingement and tendon problems around the ankle, and labrum injuries, impingement, cartilage and tendon problems around the hip are managed by us. We are now taking care of over 5000 sports injury cases in our clinic every year. At the Hong Kong Sports Institute, we provide general medical and orthopaedic consultations, sports injury management and rehabilitation programmes, high-risk group screening in particular sports and injury prevention programmes. Each year, about 300 elite Hong Kong Team athletes receive our care in Hong Kong Sports Institute.

We are also the pioneers in arthroscopic surgeries for treatment of sports injuries through our introduction of the first knee arthroscopy in Hong Kong, and we continue to take the lead in the field. With our expertise and state-of-art technology developed, arthroscopic surgeries are very safe and effective surgeries, and allowing patients return to sports much earlier than before. Our knee arthroscopic surgeries include Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) reconstructions, Posterior Cruciate Ligament (PCL) reconstructions, multi-ligament reconstructions and reconstructions for patellofemoral joint (PFJ) instability, while shoulder arthroscopic operations consist of rotator cuff repairs, arthroscopic stabilization for recurrent shoulder dislocations and SLAP repairs etc. With the aid of computer navigation system and high-definition camera system, higher level of precision and better surgical outcome particularly for knee operations is guaranteed. With close collaborations with Foot & Ankle Team and Hand team, our arena of arthroscopic service extends to ankle arthroscopy, wrist arthroscopy and elbow arthroscopy. Each year, with our operative services provided at Prince of Wales Hospital and Alice Ho Miu-Ling Nethersole Hospital, we operate on more than 350 sports injuries cases, with about 250 ACL cases and 50 shoulder arthroscopic procedures. Our team holds various arthroscopy workshops such as the advanced cadaveric arthroscopy workshops of the knee and shoulders annually with a view to sharing our surgical experiences with orthopaedic surgeons from Hong Kong, China and over the world. Our close collaboration with experts from renowned orthopaedic centres around the world has granted us ample opportunities for the exchange of new surgical technologies.

Research

Research in sport team is bon marriage of clinical, applied and basic science research. Our major research focuses are prevention and treatments for sports injuries. We have published more than 264 articles in SCI journals. We have successfully secured 17 (General Research Fund) grants and 9 ITF (Innovation and Technology) grants in the past 30 years. In 2006, we were also awarded a 12 million UGC grant in developing a joint university centre in Sport medicine and rehabilitation. In 2008, the establishment of the CUHK-Jockey Club Sports Medicine and Health Sciences Centre (with a funding of 88 million) has significantly enhanced our research capabilities, with the state-of-the-art facilities such as animal gait analysis; in-vivo cell imaging system; multichannel flow cytometer and high resolution ultrasound imaging system. To achieve innovative solutions for management of orthopaedic sport medicine conditions and musculoskeletal disorders and to provide platform for multi-disciplinary research on musculoskeletal regeneration, the Sport Medicine And Regenerative Technology (SMART) programme was established under the Institute of Innovative Medicine (IIM) in 2013. Our Clinical team is actively participating in clinical researches. We have a very broad spectrum of interests, from sports injuries epidemiology, diagnostic skills, injury prevention programme, surgical technique development to rehabilitation and performance enhancement program. Our current main focus essentially is on Knee and shoulder sports injuries, with special interests in ACL injuries particularly randomize-controlled trials in single-bundle ACL versus double-bundle ACL reconstructions etc. We have published more than 30 clinical papers in different peer-reviewed international journals.

Our Basic Science team is one of the prominent tendinopathy research groups in the world and we pioneered the studies on clinical samples of tendinopathies. We also investigated various strategies to promote tendon healing, including growth factors, stem cells, traditional Chinese medicine and biophysical intervention. With respect to ACL injuries, the basic research team works closely with the clinical and applied research team in order to achieve clinical translation of research findings. A number of patents are filed and we looking forward to bringing more research findings into clinical application. Our Applied team established the CUHK Sports Performance and Biomechanics Laboratory. We apply the technology of biomechanics to predict the occurrence of ankle sprain, and by micro-electrical muscle stimulation, excessive joint motion could be prevented. This innovative idea has led to the development of anti-sprain shoe and hopefully a series of anti-sprain “smart” devices will be launched into the market in the near future. We have also newly invented a new knee rotational laxity meter to assess the dynamic and static rotational stability of the ACL, which provides an innovative objective biomechanical assessment technique of the knee. We are honored to be the regional hub of knowledge transfer with respect to tendon and ligament research. We have hosted the world renowned “International Symposium of Tendon and Ligament (ISL&T) in 2008 and 2010. In 2013, the 3rd CUHK Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine Conference will continue to have the top scientists in the fields of regenerative medicine to join us. With the establishment of musculoskeletal research network, we shall be able to enhance the academic, professional and scientific output of members by facilitating more international collaboration. 

Education

We are a leading center for sports medicine education. For Undergraduate teaching, we are dedicated in educating CUHK MB,ChB Med I, III and V students. We were awarded the University Grants Council (UGC) Restructuring and Collaboration Fund (RCF) to set up the Joint Universities Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation centre with the Rehabilitation department of Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 2007. Though this collaboration, our medical students from CUHK and physiotherapist students from HKPU is now having the opportunities to enjoy a two-way learning, particularly acquiring more knowledge on the principle and applications of rehabilitation in sports injuries, as well as developing good long term working relationship. For post-graduate education, 21 research master students and 15 PhD students have completed their research projects on areas such as tendon and ligament regenerations and biomechanics studies. Our team successfully launched the first ever Master Course in sports Medicine & Health Science in Hong Kong in 2004. With a strong teaching international faculty equipped with collective expertise in research and education, rigorous trainings were provided to learners from a diversified background such as medical doctors, physiotherapists, nurses, sports scientists, allied health, fitness professionals and sports enthusiasts. We have now trained more than 400 people with our MSc course. Many of these alumni are contributing and playing a significant role in the sports medicine profession and industry in HK and around the world. 

Community Services

With a view to coping with the ever growing awareness, demands and developments of society, our high caliber of services extends from hospital to communities at various levels. We are serving the society with voluntary medical supports in different local and international sports events, like the HK Marathon, Trailwalker, All China City Game, Chinese F1 Grand Prix, Asian Federation Cup. We also take care of Hong Kong Team, the China National sports teams, colleges and professional as team physicians. Educational talks to schools and community groups are delivered regularly. These community service activities accumulate over 1000 hours of on-field medical service and educational talks every year. Since 2007, we have been promoting the knowledge of sports injury information to the general public by hosting the annual SMART (Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation Therapy) Convention where healthcare professionals and clinicians are invited to share and discuss important sport injury prevention messages with the audience as a means of raising the awareness of and confronting the great challenge of musculoskeletal disorders. We have also published various educational books for our general public. 

Future

Orthopedic sport medicine is an integral part of orthopedics. It is a vibrant and emerging subspecialty that traverses boundaries in other disciplines in medicine in general and orthopedics in particular. A well-trained orthopedic surgeon will benefit from a comprehensive program of training as highlighted in this discipline with knowledge and skill applicable to other sub-specialties.

The CUHK Sport Medicine Centre will maintain this momentum of sporting spirit to achieve “Higher, Faster and Stronger” goals to reach new height in clinical service, education and research. We shall bring the next generation of clinician and scientist to a new platform of opinion leadership in this discipline.