Bangkok Academy of Sports and Exercise Medicine (BASEM)

Overview

Bangkok Academy of Sports and Exercise Medicine (BASEM) at Bangkok Hospital Headquarters is considered a professional sports medicine center adhering to international standards. Aiming at restoring and improving performance of all athletes at any age with a wide variety of lifestyles, a holistic care in sports medicine is provided by well-trained and experienced sports medicine physicians along with multidisciplinary team covering all subspecialties involved in sports care. Comprehensive services range from physical fitness assessment, diagnostics, effective treatments, recovery and rehabilitation programs to sport injury prevention and athletic performance-enhancing programs. Cutting-edge technologies and advanced techniques in minimally invasive surgery have been deployed to achieve better surgical outcomes with shorter recovery time, allowing athletes a quick return to the games.

Personalized fitness assessment programs are designed for individual patients by our sports medicine specialists at BASEM to ensure physical fitness and readiness before getting back on track. Bespoke preparticipation evaluation and fitness assessment aim to improve athletic performance along with individual recommendations and training programs while minimizing the chances of sport injuries. Not only on physical aspects, but our emphasis is also placed upon sports nutrition and performance psychology to complete holistic care for professional athletes. Moreover, services are extended to amateur or nonprofessional athletes, physically active people and the elderly as well as patients with underlying conditions, e.g. diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases and obesity.

Accreditations And Affiliations

In 2012, Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) accredited BASEM as one of its FIFA Medical Centers of Excellence. This international accreditation affirms that BASEM has met FIFA criteria to demonstrate medical, educational and research expertise in the area of football. Football players can rest assured that their professional athletic care and treatments at BASEM adhere to international standards defined by FIFA.

BASEM is considered the first sports medicine institute accredited as FIFA Medical Center of Excellence in Thailand and South-East Asia which is ranked the third institute in Asia and 26^th institute in the world.

For domestic affiliation, BASEM has collaborated with the College of Sports Science and Technology, Mahidol University to achieve the mutual goal in conducting educational programs and researches in football for further development in the field.

FIFA Medical Network
Link: https://www.fifa.com/about-fifa/medical/centers-of-excellence

OUR DOCTORS

At BASEM, the multidisciplinary team consists of sports medicine physicians, orthopedic surgeons and physiatrists (physical medicine and rehabilitation physicians highly specialized in sports medicine). Due to a broad spectrum of health challenges and conditions, other subspecialties also involve cardiologists, pulmonologists, neurologists, endocrinologists, otolaryngologists (Ear-Nose-Throat physicians) and ophthalmologists as well as dentists and psychiatrists. With tremendous experiences, our sports medicine physicians have been qualified to be a part of several professional sports associations and amateur sport societies.

Striving for fast recovery and quick return to the games, rehabilitation care and sports injury prevention programs are conducted by well-trained sports and exercise physiotherapists under close supervision of the physiatrists. In addition, performance-enhancing care delivered by sports science specialists covering all essential fields enables athletes to improve their fitness and performance based on their physical fitness evaluation.

OUR SPORTS SCIENCE AND EXERCISE SERVICES

Advanced minimally invasive surgery in sports injuries: Advances in minimally invasive surgery have emerged with superior advantages for treating sports and exercise injuries. Instead of having large incisions required for conventional surgery, minimally invasive surgery can be performed through smaller incisions, leading to less traumatic injuries to the surrounding tissues and muscles, fewer postoperative complications such as less infection rates and less blood loss during surgery. Combined with rehabilitation care after surgery, recovery can be accelerated, enabling the patients to quickly return to their daily lives and sport activities with a shorter hospital stay.

Return-to-sports program: After sports injuries, it is essential to ensure physical fitness and readiness before getting back on track. The goal is not just to completely heal the injuries; our return-to-sports program also intends to enhance athletic performance to achieve their professional ambitions. Return-to-sports program as post-surgery care is individually designed to be best-suited for each individual. Programs involve physical fitness assessment after injuries, rehabilitation exercise, muscle strengthening and training by using advanced sports medicine and rehabilitation equipment.

FIFA Pre-Precompetition Medical Assessment (PCMA): Before football players participate in any competition, their physical fitness must be ensured that they are sufficiently fit to cope with the demands of training and playing. Following FIFA’s recommendations, FIFA Pre-Precompetition Medical Assessment (PCMA) aims to identify potentially significant medical conditions that can affect health and playing ability of the players. PCMA involves general medical assessment e.g. blood test, cardiac assessment and relevant musculoskeletal assessment. PCMA is often considered before the football players participate in a competition or before they enter into new football associations.

Fit-for-performance program: Fit-for-performance program involves a comprehensive physical assessment for both professional and amateur athletes. The program helps to evaluate physical fitness, physical readiness and muscle strength before workouts or participating in any sport. Besides improving physical performance and endurance, the program also assists the athletes in preventing sports-related injuries that can potentially happen during training or playing the games.

Sports performance program: Ensuring your fitness before a game with personalized Fit-to-Play programs which are designed for particular sports by sports medicine specialists at BASEM. Pre-participation evaluation and fitness assessment aim to improve athletic performance along with individual recommendations and training programs while minimizing the chance of sport injuries. Based on different types of sports, sports performance programs include:

- Football Performance Program
- Golf Performance Program
- Tennis Performance Program
- Badminton Performance Program

TREATMENTS AND SERVICES

Arthroscopic surgery for a wide range of injuries, including shoulders, knees, hips, elbows and ankles, e.g.;
- Arthroscopic meniscus repair
- Arthroscopic ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) and PCL (posterior cruciate ligament) reconstruction
- Arthroscopic shoulder impingement surgery
- Arthroscopic rotator cuff repair of shoulder
- Arthroscopic cartilage regeneration
- Arthroscopic labral repair
Treatment and surgery of sports-related injuries including bone and joints, muscles, tendons and ligaments, meniscus and cartilage

- Muscle injury and inflammation, e.g. tibia, calf and thigh
- Ligament injury, e.g. knee and shoulder
- Clavicle joint dislocation and frozen shoulder or adhesive capsulitis
- Elbow, wrist and hand injuries, e.g. tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis) and golfer’s elbow (medial epicondylitis)
- Knee and Hip injuries, e.g. ACL injuries, groin pain and piriformis syndrome
- Sports hernia
- Foot and ankle injuries, e.g. foot pain, plantar fasciitis, ankle sprain, ankle fracture and Achilles tendinitis

Physical fitness evaluation

- Body composition analysis
- Balance and flexibility tests
- Aerobic endurance fitness tests for cardio and pulmonary assessment (measured as VO₂ max which is the maximum amount of oxygen that can be utilized during exercise)
- Anaerobic capacity fitness tests to measure the total amount of energy from the anaerobic (without oxygen) energy systems
- Muscle strength assessment
- Plyometric training (power and speed training on muscle strength)
- Motion analysis for movement and gaiting
- Metabolic analysis during exercise
- Muscle strength training (resistance training)
- Muscle power training
- Oxygen consumption during exercise
- Speed movement
- Flexibility
- Agility Resistance and control over the skeletal muscles
- Vertical jump test