Sports medicine in Vietnam

Sports medicine in the United States is a specialized field that deals with helping athletes rehabilitate injuries and return to competition.

In Vietnam, sports medicine may someday help that country's citizens recover from injuries and be productive in a way of life that emphasizes physical activity and relies on agriculture.

"Sports medicine in the United States is a specialty," said Dr. Mark Langenfeld, professor of health, human performance and recreation at Southeast Missouri State University. "In Vietnam, it really doesn't exist. Their view on sports medicine is that it has to be integrated into all their medical care delivery. These are physically active people. They have to be able to treat physically active people to return to full function."

Langenfeld had the opportunity to examine the state of sports medicine and medical care in Vietnam in November during a 10-day tour of the country put together by the People to People Ambassador Program. He was part of a 10-person American contingent that included other college professors, orthopedic surgeons and the owner of a fitness center.

People to People fosters international understanding by allowing ordinary citizens from different nations to communicate directly. Langenfeld said that as a fellow in the American College of Sports Medicine, he has received invitations to participate in similar exchanges with other countries but passed.

"When I saw Vietnam, it instantly intrigued me because whenever someone mentions Vietnam, most of us think about the war," he said. "I thought it would be fascinating to take a look at the country 30 years after the United States departed.

"My mind no longer jumps to war. I have many images. It's the people and the country. I like the optimism for the future of the country."

Langenfeld will share his impressions Wednesday as part of Southeast Missouri State's "Travel Abroad at Home" series. His presentation, which will begin at noon at Crisp Hall Auditorium, is called "Vietnam: A country of people looking to the future with optimism for better times."

While Langenfeld said the trip left him with a positive outlook for the future, he noted that some hostilities between the former north and south still exist, the country is largely poor and the medical care is in its development stages.

"The level of medical care is not what we'd associate with medical care here," Langenfeld said. "The Soviet Union had provided state-supplied medical care until the mid-1980s when it pulled the plug on support. Think about the turmoil to a country from that standpoint. Tests and treatments we do here are not as common there."

Langenfeld said his group toured a 1,200-bed hospital in Hanoi that had no air-conditioning, even in the operating room. He said much of the medical care was being given by family members.

The group also toured a rehabilitation clinic that had been part of a joint project with the United States that was producing high-quality custom-made braces. "There were some tremendous contrasts," Langenfeld said.

One of the juxtapositions included an electronic accupuncture machine in use at a training center for traditional Vietnamese medicine such as accupuncture and herbs.

"You see these centuries-old traditions being blended with modern medicine," he said.

Athletics also provided some similar inconsistencies. Langenfeld said the Vietnamese people gathered for exercise daily, something promoted by Ho Chi Minh in the 1940s, but organized sport was not emphasized as greatly as it is in some other Communist countries such as China.

"I don't think it's good for a developing country to put so much effort into the sports realm," Langenfeld said. "Does it help a country? There may be some positive propaganda but I don't think it does in a meaningful way.

"One thing I did not expect was it was common to see poeple up at 6 a.m., going to the parks to exercise."

He said the exercises included martial arts, badminton and a form of hacky-sack.

Langenfeld said his group was unable to meet with the country's Olympic Committee, perhaps due to the timing of the visit and the approaching Southeast Asia Games.

The contingent did tour a sports science institute in Hanoi and a physical education teachers college in Ho Chi Minh City. The college was connected with facilities which were to be used for the Southeast Asia Games.

"That was the best facility of anything we saw," Langenfeld said.

In his meetings with those who develop medical education curriculum in Vietnam, Langenfeld found that the country does not have a system to share training information between elite teams and lower levels.

"For the top athletes, what struck us was that people we talked with weren't really sure who was providing the medical care," Langenfeld said. "I'd love to revisit and talk with Olympic people or elite teams."

Langenfeld hopes to have an opportunity to go back with the same contingent to provide a three-day workshop for medical students and others in the medical field.

"I'd love to be invited and supply what I could for my specialty, exercise and physiology," Langenfeld said.

Langenfeld, 49, has been able to apply his knowledge to his own exercise. He has ridden his bicycle on trips to Europe many times, twice completing the 750-mile Paris-Brest-Paris cycling event.

He added Vietnam to the list of places in which he has been cycling, tooling around for a quick spin and also driving a bicycle taxi.

"I have such a different outlook having visited there," he said.