The Orthopaedic and Pain Practice is a specialist clinic dedicated to treating various orthopaedic, musculoskeletal, and pain issues patients might suffer from.
The team at TOPP is committed to advancing wound care and wound healing in musculoskeletal ailments and to providing each patient with unparalleled health care. At TOPP, patients and their families are at the heart of everything that is done.
The clinic is guided by the values of respect and recognition of each individual’s needs, concerns, and goals. TOPP offers comprehensive and specialized services to care for patients, all under one roof.
The facilities include physiotherapy and hand therapy, as well as imaging and diagnostic services, and a day surgery center for procedural treatments.
It is one of the only orthopaedic and sports medicine practices in Singapore to offer the cutting-edge service of diagnostic musculoskeletal ultrasound.
At The Orthopaedic and Pain Practice, a highly trained medical team of doctors, orthopaedic surgeons, radiologists, and physiotherapists offers up-to-date, effective, evidence-based pain management treatments for people with back and neck pain, as well as sports or musculoskeletal injuries and ailments, both acute and chronic.
The doctors and specialists at TOPP are known for their excellent all-round research-based expertise, efficiency, and genuine empathy for the individual patient’s needs.
They take a very patient and consolatory-centered approach to make sure patients’ assessments, management, and the coordinated treatment plans are carried out in a structured yet effective way, depending on each individual’s requirements, circumstances, and expectations.
Every effort is made to help achieve the best possible outcomes because TOPP is, above all, dedicated to assuaging pain and revitalizing your life.
The Orthopaedic and Pain Practice specializes in chronic lower back pain treatment to help you regain mobility and comfort.
Musculoskeletal conditions are major morbidities among the Singapore working class. Often debilitating and frustrating, Singaporeans suffer from this spectrum of conditions that range from occupational injuries to bone, joint degeneration, and sports injuries.
With the increasing awareness of geriatric bone and joint disorders from the rapidly greying population, the demand for comprehensive orthopaedic treatment is of increasing local and regional significance.
Musculoskeletal Conditions and Their Treatment
The human body is prone to a multitude of musculoskeletal conditions, including degenerative, inflammatory, metabolic, and neoplastic diseases.
As musculoskeletal conditions can affect any part of the body, it can be complex, and all treatment strategies should be customized to the patient.
It is the cumulative effect of multiple impairments, activity limitations, participation restrictions, psychological, and social factors that cumulatively make patients feel disabled.
Chronic lower back pain (LBP) is considered not only a patient healthcare problem but also a global threat that affects the quality of life.
With a significant annual direct cost, it remains uncertain if available conservative evidence-based treatments can cure chronic LBP or whether to continue conservative management or proceed to surgical interventions.
The Orthopaedic and Pain Practice is a standalone center with vast experience in performing various conservative and surgical treatments for numerous musculoskeletal conditions and in establishing step-by-step treatment strategies.
Chronic Lower Back Pain: Causes and Treatment Options
Chronic lower back pain is a common condition that may occur in most people. It is an important cause of disability and often results in significant loss of productivity.
People with low back pain often undergo physical or emotional trials, but the key to treatment may involve a number of approaches, including both active physical therapy, medication, and/or advanced interventions.
In many cases, the orthopedic and pain practice have found that a combined approach provides patients with the best results.
The key causes of chronic lower back pain are varied and depend on individual circumstances and lifestyle.
They include injury, degenerative conditions, inflammatory arthritis, lifestyle (insufficient core strength and sedentary lifestyle), spinal deformity, psychological stressors, cancer, and tumors. The treatments offered depend on the underlying diagnosis.
The primary approach to treatment is patient education. Secondary approaches include conservative treatments that centralize pain, reduce pain levels, reconditioning, and ultimately improve function.
Current treatment strategies are based on this understanding. A concerted effort to further understand the processes in the spine and lower limb using kinematic MRI, pressure mat sensors,
And three-dimensional motion analysis technology has confirmed much of the basic spine research but also allowed us to explore new therapies such as exercise on a treadmill with body weight support as the first step in a treatment program for those with spasticity and limited mobility.
Our integrated model of care includes spinal specialists, psychologists, physiotherapists, and other allied health professionals, including but not limited to workplace ergonomists and occupational therapists.
HIV and Lower Back Pain: Unique Considerations and Management Strategies
Patients often wonder about the connection between HIV and lower back pain, and The Orthopaedic and Pain Practice offers comprehensive assessments and care.
HIV infection can be the underlying cause of lower back pain through a variety of mechanisms. These include a decrease in bone mineral density, increased inflammation, lifestyle changes, and medications, among others.
Although the overall prevalence of HIV-positive individuals in Singapore is low, with a low prevalence of those living with HIV and musculoskeletal conditions, it was estimated that millions of individuals in the Western Pacific were living with HIV in recent years.
We aim to increase awareness of the presentation of patients with HIV and lower back pain and suggest management strategies.
The main goal of treatment for any individual with HIV disease is to control the viral replication, prolong the time to the onset of immune deficiency, and manage the pain associated with musculoskeletal conditions to enhance their quality of life.
Close coordination with either an orthopedic or musculoskeletal specialist and an infectious disease specialist is often necessary.
Joint, and often complex, consultations between both practitioners are then recommended to ensure a plan of care that addresses both pathologies.
If a diagnosis of muscle and joint conditions is confirmed, an emphasis on personalized care based on the patient’s characteristics, psychosocial factors, and work will usually be more efficacious than any particular type of treatment.
Lower Back Muscle Tear: Diagnosis and Treatment Approaches
For effective recovery, The Orthopaedic and Pain Practice provides tailored lower back muscle tear treatment designed to promote healing and restore function.
Lower back muscle tears can occur as a result of an acute injury or due to overuse, causing symptoms ranging from a mild ache to significant, sharp pain localized to the back.
Key to diagnosing is making a comprehensive assessment through a detailed history and a careful physical examination.
The diagnosis can be confirmed through imaging, typically a magnetic resonance imaging in an acute setting, with ultrasound imaging providing a better alternative for chronic cases.
Most cases can be effectively treated with appropriate assessment and a combination of modalities where appropriate, either alone or in combination, with treatment aimed at managing the presenting symptoms of pain and dysfunction and facilitating rehabilitation.
Conservative measures typically include activity modification, rest, and rehabilitation, with more advanced intervention when a patient fails to respond to these, or with sought early intervention for the optimization of recovery or when conservative measures are inappropriate.
The way forward will be in leveraging advances in machine learning-based big data techniques for a more accurate diagnosis and patient stratification, for more effective physical therapy to facilitate the best possible recovery, and for minimally invasive techniques that could help improve patient outcomes and rehabilitation.
Pain management plays an adjuvant role to physical therapy and should be concurrently initiated in cases of myofascial pain, with a focus on restoring range of motion and reducing patients’ reliance on pain medication.
A pull-to-pain style of physical examination can help differentiate lower back muscle tears from other possible causes of low back pain.
Innovative Treatment Modalities
At the Orthopaedic and Pain Practice, we are dedicated to clinical innovation and cutting-edge patient care. Our clinic is designed to take advantage of the most current technologies to deliver the very best possible outcomes for our patients.
As such, we offer a suite of treatments that target a wide variety of musculoskeletal conditions. They are designed to limit tissue damage and shorten recovery.
We encourage you to explore each topic through the readables we provide, as we have touched on some of these aspects in broad strokes within this website.
Our treatments take advantage of our expertise in diagnostic imaging, advanced injectable treatments, and advances in surgical treatment. Importantly, the advances we present to you have been developed through a rigorous research program.
There have been significant advancements in our understanding and treatment of musculoskeletal conditions over recent years.
Most of these have arisen due to further research into these conditions. At the Orthopaedic and Pain Practice, we are uniquely poised at the interface of clinical care and institutional research and education.
Recognizing that patient outcomes are driven by harnessing these skills, we will explore the most effective strategy in detail with each individual patient.
If it is felt that innovative treatment modalities are to be employed, we believe that patient education is an integral part of the process. Comprehensive evidence-based information will be provided to enable informed decision-making.
The Orthopaedic and Pain Practice is dedicated to offering quality care that centers around you, the patient.
Our emphasis is on personalized care that focuses on individual requirements and preferences, clear patient education and engagement, pain mitigation, and clinical outcomes.
Our multidisciplinary approach seeks to provide a comprehensive evaluation and treatment plan design from the entire care team’s various knowledge, expertise, and experience backgrounds.
Following the initial consultation, the patient’s course of treatment is discussed at a post-clinic meeting.
Patients may anticipate a clinical outcome report discussing all available treatment options, the pros and cons, questions posed in the office, a diagnosis, and the patient’s informed consent.
Patient visits and follow-ups are part of the Orthopaedic and Pain Practice’s consistently successful patient flow. Driven by five guiding principles, we have an inclusive, multidisciplinary, client-centric, and whole-patient strategy.
Patients on the receiving side report greater compliance with therapy, less distress or nervousness, and improved comprehension of their conditions, thus reducing the chance of misperceptions and irrational beliefs about wellness treatment or processes.
Our interdisciplinary, detailed process complements the positive patient healthcare experience that we established.
By embracing and admitting to being responsible for all aspects of the therapy plan, the patient will expand their understanding of what to expect from us and what we anticipate from them as their care provider.
