How people with disabilities can discover the athlete in them

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Channel NewsAsia looks at some ways local athletes have overcome their disabilities, as well as how the authorities are looking to promote disability sports in Singapore.

By Leong Wai Kit, News 5

Posted 14 Dec 2015 00:17

SINGAPORE: With the recent ASEAN Para Games succeeding in creating greater awareness of disability sports, authorities are moving to enable people with disabilities to play and compete in sports in their neighbourhoods. There is also a plan to make sports part of the rehabilitation process for patients.

How people with disabilities can discover the athlete in them

For some, like para-sprinter Lieu Teck Hua, competitive sports can provide a ray of hope. He was 24 years old when he lost his leg in a motorcycle accident 11 years ago.

"The first few months after amputation is not easy because when you get your first prosthetic leg, it's not going to be smooth sailing. There's a lot of pain and hardship you have to go through - there's a lot of abrasion to deal with. It takes many versions of the prosthetic legs to eventually get the right fit. Your stump also tends to shrink very rapidly in the early days," said Lieu.

He was bedridden for half a year, but decided to literally pick himself up. The accident had caused him to lose his strength, and his body was getting out of shape. The first sport he tried was swimming, which he never learned until his tragedy.

"I already lost my leg - that affected my confidence - and when I see my body getting heavier, I feel lethargic, and I felt I needed to exercise," said Lieu. "After swimming, I trimmed down a lot and I know that one of the key factors is, walking with a prosthetic leg, if I'm very heavy, it's going to be difficult. So I need to keep myself in shape to reduce the tension."

Lieu took part in the recent ASEAN Para Games and together with his fellow athletes, helped raise awareness of disability sports.

INSPIRING NEW ATHLETES

The Games have also inspired individuals like Alson Wang, who suffers from cerebral palsy and hopes to compete in powerlifting at the next edition of the bi-annual sporting event. He said he chose the sport because Singapore only has two representatives, Kalai Vanen and Melvyn Yeo.

"With me, there'll be three!" said Wang. "I'm going to connect with a coach to train for power lifting,"

Asked if he was afraid of hard work, Wang said: "No. Then I can win more medals for Singapore."

Two years ago, he joined a volunteer group, Runninghour, which helps those with disabilities enjoy sports.

Runninghour co-founder Jan Chan said: "Initially, (Wang) was more tensed up when he meets new friends or strangers. Now, I can see that he's more open and because of the sports, I see him getting stronger and happier."

But it is not always easy to take that first step. To start the ball rolling, the Government will build five sports centres called "centres of expertise". There will be a gym in each centre for those with disabilities.

For a start, two of these centres will be built at Jurong West and Toa Payoh next year. Each centre will feature a disability sport like table tennis, boccia and swimming. There, users can learn the sport, dive right in to play it, or fine-tune their skills for competition.

FROM REHAB TO SPORT

The authorities are hoping that disability sports can become a part of the rehabilitation and recovery process for patients.

At a typical physiotherapy clinic, where patients of all sorts of conditions are referred to, very common pieces of gym equipment are used to help strengthen different parts of the body.

The leg press, for example, can train the remaining leg of an amputee, and it is important for him to strengthen that leg for movement and balance. A pulley machine can help a patient train his upper body, and even those on wheelchairs will find it easy to access the machine.

"When a person first comes to physiotherapy, we take them through a basic assessment where we try to establish their general strength levels, their flexibility, their balance and their endurance. And based on these limitations, we then try to customise an exercise programme with specific functional goals in mind," said Mark Chan, a senior physiotherapist at Ng Teng Fong General Hospital.

"I think we currently still focus a lot on achieving daily functional activities. It can be as simple as trying to help someone transferring from a wheelchair to the bed and if we only focus on that, I think sometimes it takes away some of the enjoyment."

Mr Chan added: "If you've been to a gym and you're sitting on a leg press and you're just moving your legs back and forth, there's only so much of enjoyment you can gather from that. But if you have someone playing a game, if we have someone working on balance, and we're throwing balls at them, it's more engaging. There is someone for them to interact with and it is a lot more rewarding, especially when they gain skills they previously didn't have."

"We could also think about, for example, doing things in the water. You can do aquarobics, you could do zumba for disabled people. You could do dance classes, and what we would need to do is we would need to modify those programmes, taking into account their physical limitations."

However, some experts have said that the focus of rehab is on helping patients regain the ability to perform daily tasks and there is only so much that can be done during rehab.

"There's a huge gap, actually, between rehabilitation and trying to get people into sports," said Dr Tan Swee Kheng, a developmental kinesiologist at Fifth Ray Integrated Activities. 'Because a lot of times, for rehabilitation, there is a predefined set of skills that an individual meets, and after the person meets it, he is then discharged."

Dr Tan said it could take years before a rehab patient can gain skills just to play sports, and that more professionals are needed to help this group achieve that goal and improve their quality of life.

'MOVING FORWARD'

Meanwhile, the body that oversees disability sports is starting to break down barriers for the disabled. It will work with hospitals, schools and coaches to promote disability sports.

Said Dr Teo-Koh Sock Miang, president of the Singapore Disability Sports Council: "We know that we need to up coach education. We need to up the understanding and sensitivities to the different sports. We know that we will need to reach out. We know that the physios want to do the best for their patients."

"So it will be a collaboration moving forward. We will need to educate. We will actually need to introduce the sport to the physios themselves, and for them to say that well, we can introduce this as part of the rehab that the patient is going through. So there will be conversations that will take place after this Games," she added.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/how-people-with/2344166.html (ขนาดไฟล์: 0 )

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วันที่โพสต์: 14/12/2558 เวลา 14:10:00 ดูภาพสไลด์โชว์ How people with disabilities can discover the athlete in them

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Channel NewsAsia looks at some ways local athletes have overcome their disabilities, as well as how the authorities are looking to promote disability sports in Singapore. By Leong Wai Kit, News 5 Posted 14 Dec 2015 00:17 SINGAPORE: With the recent ASEAN Para Games succeeding in creating greater awareness of disability sports, authorities are moving to enable people with disabilities to play and compete in sports in their neighbourhoods. There is also a plan to make sports part of the rehabilitation process for patients. How people with disabilities can discover the athlete in them For some, like para-sprinter Lieu Teck Hua, competitive sports can provide a ray of hope. He was 24 years old when he lost his leg in a motorcycle accident 11 years ago. "The first few months after amputation is not easy because when you get your first prosthetic leg, it's not going to be smooth sailing. There's a lot of pain and hardship you have to go through - there's a lot of abrasion to deal with. It takes many versions of the prosthetic legs to eventually get the right fit. Your stump also tends to shrink very rapidly in the early days," said Lieu. He was bedridden for half a year, but decided to literally pick himself up. The accident had caused him to lose his strength, and his body was getting out of shape. The first sport he tried was swimming, which he never learned until his tragedy. "I already lost my leg - that affected my confidence - and when I see my body getting heavier, I feel lethargic, and I felt I needed to exercise," said Lieu. "After swimming, I trimmed down a lot and I know that one of the key factors is, walking with a prosthetic leg, if I'm very heavy, it's going to be difficult. So I need to keep myself in shape to reduce the tension." Lieu took part in the recent ASEAN Para Games and together with his fellow athletes, helped raise awareness of disability sports. INSPIRING NEW ATHLETES The Games have also inspired individuals like Alson Wang, who suffers from cerebral palsy and hopes to compete in powerlifting at the next edition of the bi-annual sporting event. He said he chose the sport because Singapore only has two representatives, Kalai Vanen and Melvyn Yeo. "With me, there'll be three!" said Wang. "I'm going to connect with a coach to train for power lifting," Asked if he was afraid of hard work, Wang said: "No. Then I can win more medals for Singapore." Two years ago, he joined a volunteer group, Runninghour, which helps those with disabilities enjoy sports. Runninghour co-founder Jan Chan said: "Initially, (Wang) was more tensed up when he meets new friends or strangers. Now, I can see that he's more open and because of the sports, I see him getting stronger and happier." But it is not always easy to take that first step. To start the ball rolling, the Government will build five sports centres called "centres of expertise". There will be a gym in each centre for those with disabilities. For a start, two of these centres will be built at Jurong West and Toa Payoh next year. Each centre will feature a disability sport like table tennis, boccia and swimming. There, users can learn the sport, dive right in to play it, or fine-tune their skills for competition. FROM REHAB TO SPORT The authorities are hoping that disability sports can become a part of the rehabilitation and recovery process for patients. At a typical physiotherapy clinic, where patients of all sorts of conditions are referred to, very common pieces of gym equipment are used to help strengthen different parts of the body. The leg press, for example, can train the remaining leg of an amputee, and it is important for him to strengthen that leg for movement and balance. A pulley machine can help a patient train his upper body, and even those on wheelchairs will find it easy to access the machine. "When a person first comes to physiotherapy, we take them through a basic assessment where we try to establish their general strength levels, their flexibility, their balance and their endurance. And based on these limitations, we then try to customise an exercise programme with specific functional goals in mind," said Mark Chan, a senior physiotherapist at Ng Teng Fong General Hospital. "I think we currently still focus a lot on achieving daily functional activities. It can be as simple as trying to help someone transferring from a wheelchair to the bed and if we only focus on that, I think sometimes it takes away some of the enjoyment." Mr Chan added: "If you've been to a gym and you're sitting on a leg press and you're just moving your legs back and forth, there's only so much of enjoyment you can gather from that. But if you have someone playing a game, if we have someone working on balance, and we're throwing balls at them, it's more engaging. There is someone for them to interact with and it is a lot more rewarding, especially when they gain skills they previously didn't have." "We could also think about, for example, doing things in the water. You can do aquarobics, you could do zumba for disabled people. You could do dance classes, and what we would need to do is we would need to modify those programmes, taking into account their physical limitations." However, some experts have said that the focus of rehab is on helping patients regain the ability to perform daily tasks and there is only so much that can be done during rehab. "There's a huge gap, actually, between rehabilitation and trying to get people into sports," said Dr Tan Swee Kheng, a developmental kinesiologist at Fifth Ray Integrated Activities. 'Because a lot of times, for rehabilitation, there is a predefined set of skills that an individual meets, and after the person meets it, he is then discharged." Dr Tan said it could take years before a rehab patient can gain skills just to play sports, and that more professionals are needed to help this group achieve that goal and improve their quality of life. 'MOVING FORWARD' Meanwhile, the body that oversees disability sports is starting to break down barriers for the disabled. It will work with hospitals, schools and coaches to promote disability sports. Said Dr Teo-Koh Sock Miang, president of the Singapore Disability Sports Council: "We know that we need to up coach education. We need to up the understanding and sensitivities to the different sports. We know that we will need to reach out. We know that the physios want to do the best for their patients." "So it will be a collaboration moving forward. We will need to educate. We will actually need to introduce the sport to the physios themselves, and for them to say that well, we can introduce this as part of the rehab that the patient is going through. So there will be conversations that will take place after this Games," she added. http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/how-people-with/2344166.html

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