EPL Is Back!

It must be me talking about ankle sprain in my last blog. Both Carra and JAR twisted their ankle in the 1-1 draw against Shitty United.

A draw is a bad result for Liverpool but I thought it serves as a wake-up call for all the players. The media has been building the team up due to the strength which Rafa has built with new signings such as Bellamy, Pennant and Kuyt. But the Reds have not won the Premiership yet. So we should just let our talking be done on the field.

Hopefully we will do better against Maccabi Haifa and West Ham in the next games.

Ankle Sprain

Yesterday was a funny day. I saw 4 students with ankle sprain!

The funnier thing was that all 4 students play different sport - middle distance runner, basketball, rugby and ballet!

The ankle is important in that it helps to support the whole weight of the body. If you sprain your ankle, it is not likely you can stand properly and you would definitely walk with a limb or may need the help of a crutch.

The ankle joint has 4 ranges of motion, plantar flexion (foot pointing downwards), dorsi flexion (foot pointing upwards), inversion (foot pointing inwards) and eversion (footing pointing outwards). The most common ankle sprain is a plantar flexed inverted sprain, which happens commonly among basketball players when they land on someone's foot.

To strengthen the ankle joint, there are a few exercises that can be done. One common one is the calf raise. You may do single leg or double leg calf raise. Of course the single leg calf raise is tougher as the whole body weight bears on one leg. Another common exercise is the towel gathering exercise (using your toes). Step ups are also good exercises to improve your ankle stability.

If you have any friends who have ankle problems. Email me or call me.

Kidney Transplant

I usually spend Sunday mornings conducting exercise classes for my patients in NKF on a volunteer basis.

As part of the exercise routine, these patients would have to have their blood pressure measured before and during exercise. I usually take the chance to chit chat with them when they are having their measurements. What we have discussed today certainly gave me a new perspective in life.

One of the patients, 38 years old, had a kidney transplanted 20 years ago in China when he was 18. It was a shock to him when he found that he had kidney failure. During that period, NKF, the old NKF, was not even setup. Thus, a lot of Singaporeans went to China and India for kidney transplant.

My patient went to a military hospital in China. He has certainly changed his life perspective from this episode. At the age of 18, one would have lofty ambitions for the future. But to be diagnosed with kidney problems is certainly a traumatic experience. Further, when he was at that Chinese hospital, 7 persons, all Singaporeans, died due to complications arising from kidney transplant. My patient was horrified, of course. But he also noted that this might not be the hospital's fault as he thought that some of these Singaporeans, who died, may have pushed the hospital too quickly for a transplant when their bodies were not ready to take in a new organ.

Nevertheless, my patient decided to stay on with the transplant while other Singaporean patients went home or went to India for transplant. Eventually, he got his new kidney from a 29 year-old man. All-in-all, my patient stayed in China for about a year.

The transplanted kidney lasted about 19 years. This is long as most transplanted kidneys last less than 10 years apparently. My patient was having nightmare about kidney dialysis before the kidney broke down. The premonition came true.

Luckily, my patient was mentally strong enough to accept that the transplant kidney may fail one day and he would have to go back to dialysis again. He has seen many examples of people who failed to accept their fate and gave up surviving. I am glad for him too.

Sometimes we do not know how lucky we are........