Kingdom of Football

So what’s the story behind Phnom Penh Crown’s mould-breaking female physio, Lidwina Niewold? For mega clubs like Chelsea its almost common practice to employ female medical staff, but for a team in the Cambodian League it’s unheard of. “As a teenager, my dream was to help professional footballers with their injuries. I come from a football-playing family and played for a girl’s team as soon as I could. But I suffered an injury when I was 20 and didn’t get it treated properly. So I know from my own experience how important it is to make sure players get the best possible treatment. I’m addicted to football, I love it. The fact that I can be involved on the pitch and use my physio skills at the same time is like living my childhood dream.” Brummen, in east Holland, is home for Lidwina. A twin, she has four brothers and a sister and football for girls was popular in her area of Holland, enabling her to play regularly and to help train a girl’s team for a couple of years. She studied physiotheraphy in Utrecht for four years including an internship in Indonesia for six months. “That was an amazing experience. I worked in a hospital and then a small health care center in the countryside, and with disabled children.”

Full Article at http://cambodiafootball.blogspot.nl/2013/02/in-mans-world.html

New Dawn for Crown

The Cambodian capital’s top football club, Phnom Penh Crown, has just hired a female physiotherapist.Andy Brouwer talks with the ground-breaking Lidwina Niewold.

Nowadays, for mega football clubs such as Chelsea its almost common practice to employ female medical staff, but for a team in the Cambodian Football League it’s unheard of. So what’s the story behind Phnom Penh Crown’s mould-breaking female physio, Lidwina Niewold?

A twin, with four brothers and a sister, Niewold grew up in Brummen, Holland, where football was popular for girls. This enabled her to play regularly and to help train a girl’s team for a couple of years.

“I come from a football-playing family and played as soon as I could,” she says. “But I suffered an injury when I was 20 and didn’t get it treated properly. So I know from my own experience how important it is to make sure players get the best possible treatment.”

Niewold studied physiotheraphy in Utrecht for four years including an internship in Indonesia for six months. “That was an amazing experience,” she says. “I worked in a hospital and then a small health care center in the countryside, and with disabled children.”

She came to Cambodia in November 2011 to work with Dick van der Poel at the Physiotherapy Phnom Penh Clinic. Early on she treated one of the Crown Academy boys and things kicked off from there. She attended a few Academy games, took over the rehabilitation of one of the players, Kouch Sokumpheak and was then invited by head coach Sam Schweingruber, to get involved with the senior team.

“I’m addicted to football, I love it,” she says. “The fact that I can be involved on the pitch and use my physio skills at the same time is like living my childhood dream.”

Full Article on http://www.asialifemagazine.com/cambodia/female-physio-tackles-cambodian-football/

Striking a balance

Phnom Penh Physiotherapy Takes a Holistic Approach

Dutch Physiotherapist Dick van der Poel opened his clinic, Physiotherapy Phnom Penh, in 2010. The clinic now boasts four certified physiotherapists, including Dick, who has become a go-to guy for rehab, physiotherapy and sports injuries in a country where many people still prefer to treat chronic injuries with tiger balm, massages and a host of other quick fixes. Yet with the clinic’s rep spreading through solid word of mouth reviews, more patients are coming to embrace Dick’s methods, which blend the best of East and West.

Predictably, a number of the patients Dick treats have suffered from moto accidents. Athletes, however, including football players, also make visits. Local pitch conditions aren’t helping them. Dick describes some turf conditions as something “like concrete with resistance.” Foreign athletes’ joints struggle to adjust to fields with stratospheric Moh scale ratings and even locals transitioning from indoor to outdoor venues are suffering the consequences. Through Western physiotherapy coupled with Traditional Chinese Medicine, Dick is helping both athletes and non-athletes alike get back to normal.

Full Article on  http://en.camsports.org/uncategorized/464.html

Keeping fit in Cambodia

Hard-hitting and time-efficient exercise regimes are taking over Cambodia, ensuring plenty of options for those looking to boost their health and get fit. Writing by Joanna Mayhew; photography by Charles Fox.

Before sunrise, at Phnom Penh’s Vietnamese Monument, a small group equipped with mats, water and towels gather in a semi-circle on the rusty red tiles. At a time when most are sleeping, save the monks chanting over the nearby wat’s loudspeaker, the seven members—led by a trainer and motivational music from a smartphone—begin planking and two-step dashing in quick succession. Ponytails fly, grunting steps up a notch and breaths shorten, as the moves pile on at a manic pace.

This is Metafit bodyweight training—a 30-minute metabolic workout designed to last a full day. The class is part of a growing number of niche fitness offerings invading the capital that focus on high-intensity interval training (HIIT)—involving fast-paced, short periods of intense anaerobic exercise interspersed with less-gruelling recovery periods. The interval training regimes have become a global craze in the last few years, and the trend is now catching on in the Kingdom. This includes CrossFit, Insanity and Metafit training–all new to Cambodia–along with upgrades to traditional high-intensity workouts like boxing.

Full Article at : http://www.asialifemagazine.com/cambodia/keeping-fit-in-cambodia/

Opening Clinic II !

Through a severe motorcycle accident Tim Hartman lost the mobilty in his spine and neck but is now quickly recovering through physiotherapy. Eli Meixler

When Tim Hartman, an American tourist, crashed his motorbike in Kep he was left with two broken ribs, whiplash, a concussion and a hyperextended shoulder. After the shock wore off, he saw few viable options for recovering in Cambodia and thought of returning to the US to heal.

“That is when an Australian nurse in Sihanoukville referred me to Physiotherapy Phnom Penh,” said Hartman. “Before coming here I couldn’t turn my head to the side, or use my shoulder. Luckily, for my head, I was wearing a helmet,” he said.

Still bandaged, Hartman sat in the lobby of Physiotherapy Phnom Penh II—the clinics new office which officially opens today—on Monivong Boulevard, a block north of The Royal Raffles Hotel.

“If it wasn’t for Dr Dick, I wouldn’t be making progress and wouldn’t be able to continue on my journey,” he said, describing how after a few treatments that mobilized his spine, his neck is healed and a full range of motion has returned to his shoulder.

Dr Dick van der Poel, the lead practitioner out of a group of four Dutch-certified staff and one part-time British, first opened Physiotherapy Phnom Penh near the Russian Market in 2010. Since then, his practice has grown first through word-of-mouth, and now by referrals from some of the capital’s largest hospitals and established clinics.

“We help people get back on their feet again,” said Dick. He went on to describe how in a country that lacks western style facilities, he bridges the gap between the emergency room and full rehabilitation by focusing on the musculoskeletal system. The musculoskeletal system is what actually binds the body together and includes everything from bones to muscles, cartilage, tendons, ligaments and joints. It is what makes the body move and function, and it is also what is most prone to injury.

Full article can be found at : http://www.phnompenhpost.com/post-plus/physiotherapy-phnom-penh-opens-second-clinic

Saturday Night LIVE

The live guests on Saturday Night Live Cambodia for Saturday January 16 were stand-up comedian and Magic Mike-wannabe STEVO JOSLIN, physiotherapist MARK CHEN and the CrossFit coaches MIKE & JENNY TITZER!

http://www.radioonecambodia.com/saturday-night-live-cambodia-january-16-2016/

Long Working Hours and Health Risks

Office workers spend at least eight hours at a desk in front of a computer every day. Due to the sedentary nature of the work,  their bodies become overtaxed without them even recognizing there’s a problem.

According to Mark Chen, a certified physiotherapist and personal trainer at Physiotherapy Phnom Penh, half of the patients seeking physiotherapy are long-hours office employees. The other half were hurt in accidents or sporting injuries.

“Roughly overall the patients’ age group is between 20-50 years old,” Mr. Chen said. “50 percent is from office-related troubles [such as] maintaining bad postures, sitting in the same position for many hours. People really overlook the muscular imbalances being built up this way The other 50 percent is half traffic problems and half sport injuries,” he added. 

 “We also treat people that have office jobs, who sit behind a computer and who are at risk of an overuse injury. Pain in the arm, shoulder, neck or back are common examples,” he said. 

Everyone who has an office job is at risk of overuse injury. A big percentage of those end up at a Physio clinic sooner or later, according to Mr. Chen. These problems can often be treated fairly easily. 

The number of treatments performed using physiotherapy differs according to the severity of the problem. The sooner you tackle a problem, the sooner it will respond to treatment. At Physiotherapy Phnom Penh, it normally takes 45 minutes for one treatment.  

“If you recognize an overuse injury from office work, it can be healed quite fast,” he said. “If you feel stiffness in your shoulder now, and you come into the office tomorrow, it’ll usually be better in one or two weeks. People just wait too long!”

“But, if you get surgery on your knee or on your hip, and you need to get back to playing sports, it could take a long time. It could take up to 6-9 months,” he said, adding that the patient needs to come in regularly to receive treatment.

Physiotherapy treats all kinds of problems related to the movement system including the bones, muscles, tendons and the joints. Techniques such as massaging, joint mobilization, strengthening or stretching, using ultrasound and electrotherapy machines are used to treat and diagnose movement-related problems.

The treatment helps manage the existing pain and prevent diseases that affect the movement system by instructing patients in certain techniques, or types of stretching or other training, so that they can take care of their bodies themselves. 

Though sedentary-job-related problems mainly affect the working population, Physiotherapy Phnom Penh treats patients as young as 3 up to whatever age who have problems with slow body development, trying to find the right balance for their bodies.

http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/23661/long-working-hours-pose-health-risks/