Sports medicine in a Beijing hospital

Today I was given a tour of the Sports Medicine department of the Peking University 3rd National Hospital, which is the largest sports medicine department in Beijing. It was fascinating to see how they do things and to compare treatment and rehabilitation regimens. Overall, their treatment protocols are similar to what we do in the U.S., although there are some differences. Of note, patients stay in the hospital for 4-8 days for procedures that we do as an outpatient in the U.S. However, their ultimate outcomes and return to sports timeline is very similar to ours. We visited the bed side of several post-operative patients, including a professional football (soccer) player. We then had dinner with several physicians, and I met a medical student whose father had worked in research at our hospital with my good friend and mentor Peter Torzilli. Very small world! Another lesson there about the Olympic Games: sports really does bring people together and proves that it truly is a small world.