Singapore's sailing legend, Dr Ben Tan, joined Changi General Hospital as Consultant Sports Physician on 20 January 2003. This makes CGH the first among the restructured hospitals to have a full time Sports Physician. With Dr Tan on board, the Changi Sports Medicine Centre (CSMC) now boasts of a Consultant Sports Orthopaedic Surgeon, two Consultant Sports Physicians, a Sports Physiotherapist, and a Sports Trainer.

Being a Sports Physician enables Dr Tan to marry his interest in sports with that of clinical medicine. After graduating with a medical degree in 1991, Dr Tan obtained his Masters in Sports Medicine in 1997 from the world-renown Australian Institute of Sport (AIS). It is home to numerous international sporting greats like Cathy Freeman, Australia's Olympic women's 400m Champion and Alexander Popov, Olympic 100m freestyle Russian gold medalist.

Other than Sports Medicine, AIS is also on the leading edge of Sports Science - the performance-enhancing tool used by successful athletes. This gave Dr Tan a strong foundation in all the Sports Science disciplines, including Sport Biomechanics, Sport Nutrition, Exercise Physiology, Sport Psychology, and Strength & Conditioning.

The CSMC caters to recreational as well as competitive athletes from a wide range of sports such as golf, soccer, running, tennis, bowling, swimming, sailing, water skiing and wakeboarding, disabled sports, performing arts, etc. As a former Diving Physiology Medical Officer with the Navy, Dr Tan even deals with scuba divers.

With the tagline "Recovery and Beyond", the CSMC doctors, physiotherapists, and trainer work together to not only to help the individual recover quickly from his injuries, but also to safely return the individual at least to his or her previous level of sport. This is achieved through accurate diagnosis, rectification of root causes, and intensive rehabilitation.

Other than managing sports injuries, Sports Medicine also involves exercise prescription (especially for medical populations like the obese, hypertensives, and diabetics), fitness assessment, anti-doping, event medical coverage, pre-participation screening, injury surveillance, and performance enhancement.

"Sports Medicine's wide scope, as well as recent advances like bedside musculoskeletal ultrasound and extracorporal shockwave therapy (ESWT), makes it difficult to keep up with the latest, but it also makes the field more interesting and challenging," added Dr Tan.

Even the patients Dr Tan sees shares his passion for sports. Mdm Poong Kim Phin, 62, took up golf 7 years ago and now plays two to three times a week with a handicap of 30. Due to her relatively aggressive swing, Mdm Poong suffers from supraspinatus tendonitis. "Even when my shoulder, elbow and back are aching, I still want to play golf," the avid golfer confessed.

The Sports Physiotherapy service within CSMC offers patients like Mdm Poong intensive rehabilitation through not only electrotherapy modalities, but also a variety of methods like strength training, core stability exercises, clinical Pilates, agility drills, proprioception exercises, pylometrics, water-based training, and manual techniques.

Dr Ben Tan as a national sailor
Dr Ben Tan won Singapore's first Asian Games Gold Medal in 12 years at the 1994 Asian Games at Hiroshima, Japan. He also struck gold at every one of his SEA Games, in 1989, 1991, 1993 and 1995, and was ranked well within the World's top 50. He was declared Sportsman of the Year three times, in 1991, 1994, and 1995 (three is the stipulated maximum allowed). The Singapore
Government also awarded Dr Tan the Public Service Star in 1995 and the Public Service Medal in 1993. Even at the 1996 Olympic Games in hurricane-prone Savannah, USA, he managed to finish mid-fleet in a field of pre-qualified Olympic-level sailors.

Dr Ben Tan retired from competitive sailing in 1996, but is still very involved in the sport. He is an active member of the International Sailing Federation Medical Commission, a prominent researcher in sailing science. He is the author and editor of the international best-seller book "The Complete Introduction to Laser Racing" in 2000 which Yachts and Yachting magazine named the "Best Laser racing book ever!" The book was even translated into Japanese, Chinese, and Polish. Dr Tan is the Chairman of Singapore Sailing Federation's High Performance Sailing Committee and a Classifier for disabled sailors. Dr Tan is also the Sports Patron of the Singapore Sports Council for the Disabled and a member of the Champions of the NKF Governor's Board.