Shanghai lacks sports medicine professionals

 18-Feb-16, Global Times 

With spring approaching and temperatures rising, sports and exercising are once again seeing an annual resurgence in popularity among Shanghai residents. But after months of hibernation during the cold winter, suddenly leaping onto a basketball court or running along Suzhou Creek could result in physical injuries.

Image: Dr Derk Rietveld

Indeed, at hospitals across Shanghai the long queues of patients has segued from sickly children to hamstrung adults, now making orthopedic doctors rather than pediatricians the city's most in-demand. But according to some medical experts, Chinese orthopedics is not nearly as specialized as in Western countries.

"When a doctor gives his diagnosis, he needs to know a lot about sports. Someone who came here with an injury of running is completely different from someone who injured his knee," Dr. Derk Rietveld, an orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist with Parkway Health Medical Center in Shanghai, told the Global Times.

"People in China don't do a lot of prevention before sports... People wear jeans or non-sports shoes in marathons. They're not prepared," said Dr. Rietveld. International clinics and general hospitals in Shanghai do not offer sports testing or even give advice to amateur athletes. 

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