Blog: Treating the stars at London 2012
Shropshire injury specialist Simon Roberts writes from the Olympic Village of his experiences rubbing shoulders with the world's greatest athletes - and treating their aches and strains:
Shropshire injury specialist Simon Roberts has swapped his day job at the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital near Oswestry to work at the athletes' polyclinic at London 2012.
He writes from the Olympic Village of his experiences rubbing shoulders with the world's greatest athletes - and treating their aches and strains:
It's really been a privilege to be part of London 2012 as there has been a buzz around the whole of Central London and the East End over the weekend that I have been here working with the athletes.
I managed to watch some of the beach volleyball on Friday, when fortunately there didn't appear to be any injuries - either to the competitors or the dancers who came on between sets. Over the weekend, I was able to attend the athletics and the Taekwondo training camp.
There's a big mix of medical staff here, from relatively specialist surgeons such as myself, to GPs, physiotherapists and many other paramedical experts - from podiatrists and osteopaths to masseurs.
Over the last few months, we have spent time familiarising ourselves with the systems and resources that we will need to use - the latter being absolutely second-to-none.
I can't talk too much about the individual injuries, but the sort of problems I have seen has ranged from straightforward bumps, knocks and bruises (which probably wouldn't normally even be reported, never mind seeing a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon) to quite complicated reinjuries of old problems.
These are often difficult to evaluate - especially when dealing with the language barrier through an interpreter. People tend to think a scan will tell all, but imaging always needs to be evaluated in the light of the patient's story and physical examination.
The decision about what needs to be done to sort out the problem is also difficult to discuss when dealing with a young athlete.
They have a once in a lifetime chance to perform at the Olympic Games, their shot coming in the next few days, but they may also not have access to the same top quality treatment at home.