
AsianScientist (Sep. 10, 2020) – Ask a person to describe mixed martial arts (MMA) and you might receive the following answers: bloody, brutal, brilliant. Regardless of your personal feelings towards the sport, MMA—with its no-holds barred nature and distinctive blend of styles ranging from muay thai to capoeira—is having its moment. Just last November 2019, Asia’s largest MMA promotion ONE Championship made history after 85 million people worldwide tuned in for its 100th live event.
Though knockouts make for a spectacular finish, MMA athletes typically carry out devastating maneuvers like the Achilles lock and triangle choke to gradually force weary opponents into submission. And yet, almost miraculously, these modern-day gladiators seemingly recover with ease, ready to fight another day.
It’s thanks to physicians like Dr. Alan Cheung that your favorite MMA fighters are in tip-top shape. As ONE Championship Singapore’s resident ringside doctor, he keeps track of each blow exchanged during matches to assess what medical treatments may be needed. From fixing broken bones to repairing torn ligaments, it’s all in a day’s work for Cheung, who is an orthopedic surgeon by training.
An avid sportsman who regularly trains in MMA and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Cheung is keenly aware of the intense physical demands regularly faced by athletes. In fact, he discovered his calling after a fateful injury in his youth, having dislocated both shoulders playing for the Cambridge Rugby Club in England. Despite this setback, Cheung’s rehabilitation and eventual recovery subsequently inspired him to pursue orthopedics.
“The worst thing you can say to an athlete is to tell them to give up the sport that they love,” he shared. “My sporting background enables me to understand what they are going through when they are injured, and helps their return to sport.”
Beyond the ring, Cheung is also known for founding the International Orthopedic Clinic (IOC) to provide cutting-edge orthopedics expertise in the Asia-Pacific region. In line with his competitive nature, Cheung is now turning to robots to stay ahead of the game.
As one of the few surgeons in Asia to be certified in robotic surgery, he is a firm believer in the potential of robots to revolutionize the operating room.
“Robotic surgery enables a good surgeon to become better, but not necessarily a bad surgeon to become good!” quipped Cheung.
Replacing joints, for example, requires the precise insertion of implants according to a certain alignment and rotation. Given the delicate nature of the procedure, robotics systems help surgeons like Cheung remove damaged bone and position implants more accurately. As a result, the surrounding healthy bone and ligaments remain untouched during surgery—translating into faster recoveries and shorter downtimes for his patients.
Currently, Cheung’s arsenal of robotic surgery systems include MAKOPlasty®, ROBODOC and NAVIO. In MAKOPlasty®, a robotic arm assists Cheung in removing the exact amount of bone required based on a CT scan of the joint. Though ROBODOC follows the same principle, the robot in this scenario is fully autonomous and can whirr away bone without external guidance. Finally, the NAVIO system does away with the pre-operative CT scan entirely. Instead, its proprietary system allows for real-time imaging as the robotic handpiece whittles the bone.
For all the advancements in robotics-assisted surgery, Cheung still expects more innovation to come.
“The future looks bright,” he said. “In our lifetime, I predict artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms will be able to plan and perform aspects of surgery as well as any experienced surgeon.”
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Copyright: Asian Scientist Magazine.
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