Shanghai
On Saturday, we left Hong Kong and traveled to Shanghai to meet our host, Professor Shiyi Chen from Fudan University. A unique aspect of this leg of the trip was meeting up with the superb group of SLARD Traveling Fellows, including Godfather Claudio Mingo from Argentina, Diego Edwards from Chile, Hernan Lisandro Galan from Argentina, and Luis Antonio Goytia from Bolivia. They had taken a southern journey across New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, and Bangkok. We were able to share our experiences, which added another dimension of the fellowship exchange.
In Shanghai we were greeted by Dr. Alex Tianwu Chen, and headed to our hotel. The size and scale of 30 million people in Shanghai was astounding. That evening, we had an excellent Chinese dumpling dinner at Din Tai Fung, hosted by Associate Professor Hongyun Li and Dr. Jiangyu Cai from Huashan Hospital Sports Medicine Department. While there, we learned more about ACL artificial ligament surgery performed at Huashan Hospital, with an incredible 3-month return to soccer post-op protocol! Following dinner, we enjoyed astonishing acrobatics – little did we know that one SLARD and one AOSSM fellow would be brought up on stage to demonstrate feats of strength and raw courage during a blindfolded knife throw!
On Sunday, we spent the day with a behind-the-scenes look at medical coverage for the Shanghai International Circuit under the direction of Professor Shiyi Chen. Formula 1 racing is an exhilarating sport, but seeing the careful medical coordination including six ambulances, an on-site trauma bay with anesthesia capabilities, and two medi-vac helicopters waiting on standby brought into perspective the inherent danger of cars traveling over 200 miles per hour. Professor Chen also demonstrated the coordinated skill of teamwork at the highest level with preparation for extricating a driver from a Formula 1 car — with spinal precautions — in one minute.
In the afternoon, we became fans and watched the F1 Shanghai Grand Prix, the 1000th F1 race, seeing Lewis Hamilton from Great Britain notch his 75th career win with ease. After the race, we had a duck anatomy lesson for dinner at Xihe, along with attempts at adding Spanish and Mandarin to our trip lexicon.
On Monday, we had the opportunity to tour the Huashan Hospital. The sports medicine group is very impressive, with a growing number of physicians and surgeons under the direction of Professor Shiyi Chen. Fudan University has a rich history dating back 110 years, and has collaborations with Harvard and Mayo Clinic.
In the afternoon, we had a combined symposium with lectures by AOSSM and SLARD traveling fellows, as well as local faculty. We learned more from our hosts about LARS artificial ligament ACL surgery, hip arthroscopy for mild dysplasia, and arthroscopic ankle ligament repair. This was a very well-attended conference, with lively discussion and engagement.
On Tuesday, we had an opportunity to visit the operating room and tour the hospital. We learned more about the delicate balance of treating patients with elements of both Chinese remedies and traditional medicine. In the operating room, we observed a well-coordinated team efficiently perform 10 surgical cases in two operating rooms. The surgeries included LARS isometric ACL reconstruction, as well as LARS PCL reconstruction with remnant preservation. We also discussed surgical repair of massive RC tears the “Chinese way,” with long head of biceps tendon augmentation — similar to a superior capsular reconstruction.
That evening, a boating tour on the Bund section of the Huangpu River gave us a view of the the astonishing and rapidly changing Shanghai skyline.
We left Shanghai and headed for Chengdu, site of the APKASS Summit and final leg of our journey.
AOSSM gratefully acknowledges DJO Global for their support of the Traveling Fellowship program.