Cebuano sports surgeon Janos Vizcayno Jr.
CEBU CITY, Philippines—As Cebu’s sports scene begins to get back on its feet after a two-year break due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Cebuano sports surgeon Janos Vizcayno Jr. is now on the move to raise awareness about the importance of sports injury assessment.
Vizcayno, a sports medicine-trained orthopaedic surgeon, has lately been making rounds in the local sports scene to raise awareness about his profession, the importance of sports injury assessment, and other important aspects of sports medicine.
In an interview with CDN Digital, this young and charismatic sports surgeon shared his insights about the local sports scene’s awareness of sports injuries and how professionals like him deal with them.
Viscayno considers himself one of the “New Kids on the Block,” which comprises the younger breed of sports surgeons.
As an orthopaedic, Viscayno is an expert not just in sports medicine but particularly in advanced shoulder surgery and joint reconstruction.
It means that he’s the doctor athletes need whenever they suffer serious injuries that involve dislocation, fracture, muscle tear, ligament tears, and tendon tears.
These injuries are very common in sports like basketball, football, and other highly physical and contact sports, which are the most popular sports not only in Cebu, but in the entire country.
“I’m one of the ‘new kids on the block.’ One of the young surgeons in Cebu who specializes in sports medicine and wants to share his expertise and experience to the sports community. I think I’m also confident of what I can offer to athletes and teams and to everyone,” said Vizcayno.
So far, Vizcayno has done numerous sports medicine forums, focusing on the importance of sports injury assessment and the medical intervention to help athletes recover faster than non-medical methods.
“One of the reasons why many athletes suffer injuries for longer periods of time is their hesitance. They are hesitant to go to hospital or doctor. Ang uban mag dugay-dugay, pero we understand because of financial reasons. Some resort to self-treatment, which is not entirely a problem, but you never know if there’s really something wrong with your injury. For the medical community, it’s better to assess and get the injury treated early so that the athlete or patient won’t end up spending a lot. If you’re an athlete, and you’re hesitant to go to a doctor, your recovery will be slow, which affects your performance and fitness in the long run,” said Vizcayno.
Vizcayno is currently accepting patients at his clinic at the University of Cebu (UC) Medical Center in Mandaue City and plans to open a more complete and convenient clinic at the Chong Hua Hospital-Mandaue.
Vizcayno pointed out that Cebu has a more established sports medicine sector compared to other provinces. However, not everyone is keen to seek help because of financial constraints.
But Vizcayno is urging athletes to consult a doctor as soon as possible to prevent the injury from getting worse.
“There are really a percentage of athletes who don’t know what they’re doing. Especially in this age when we can get almost everything from the Internet. Instead of going to a doctor, they just search it in Google. The problem with sports injury is you feel that you don’t have a fractured bone, but it actually is fractured. You’d realize that it’s been 2 to 3 weeks already and yet your injury hasn’t gotten better. So it’s a waste of time. If they’d gone straight to an orthopedic like us, within 24 hours, we would have taken care of them already,” said Vizcayno.
In addition, Vizcayno revealed that the number one sports injury he encountered the most was shoulder dislocation, while the rest are muscle tears and fractures.
Vizcayno has already organized a forum to discuss the importance of sports injury assessment with the San Remigio Basketball team of Mark Ynoc. He’s also been invited to numerous leagues such as the CYBL, Pilipinas VisMin Super Cup, and other local leagues.
He plans to widen his cause by collaborating with Cebu’s sports stakeholders in the future.
“I already started connecting with the local sports stakeholders, and I talked to them discussing about the most common sports injuries. What to do and what not to do,” added Vizcayno.
/bmjo
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