Dubai-based Zickerman’s role in supporting DP World Tour in the region

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Transcript

00:00I first came to Dubai in 1976. I've seen Dubai go from a desert to a cosmopolitan city. It's

00:17been a very exciting journey. I spent some of that time in the UK studying to do sports

00:24medicine and then came back to set up a clinic. I came back to Dubai to set up the first sports

00:31medicine clinic in the region. It took a little while to introduce sports medicine because

00:36it was very new here. But in 2010 we opened Up and Running. We are and aim to be an integrated

00:46clinic trying to cover as much as we can under one roof for the active population. We have

00:51three branches of Up and Running. The main branch is on Al-Wasr Road and then we have

00:56one at DIFC and then we have another rehab based branch at Emirates Golf Club where it's

01:02linked to the gym at the Fit Lab. Each branch has different specialties that they focus

01:07on but ultimately it is still working with any musculoskeletal aches and pains. We follow

01:15very strict protocols of what we do but the aim has always been to see a doctor, be given

01:21a diagnosis, show them, educate the patients as to what's going on, compare different sides

01:26so they can appreciate what actually is the problem. Often it's a very stepwise approach.

01:33We always start conservative and then we step things up introducing rehabilitation which

01:38could be with physio, osteo, chiro, massage and sometimes adding in things like dry needling,

01:43shockwave, depending on what the problem is. If that doesn't work we'll investigate, look

01:49at doing interventions such as injections, be a little more aggressive with what we do

01:53and if that doesn't work then we involve a network of orthopaedic surgeons. We have a

01:58huge network of orthopaedic surgeons or other specialists in the field within Dubai but

02:04we also liaise with specialists in Europe. And that brings on the role that we have with

02:10DP World Tour. I myself as a sports medicine specialist have been working with the tour

02:17since 2009. I have covered on average four or five events a year. Most have been regional

02:28so we started off with Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman. I've also covered the end event

02:37which used to be called the race to Dubai where we had the finale. I've also covered

02:44a few events in Sweden which is my home country so that's been an honour as well. This year

02:48we covered the first mixed event which was very exciting especially seeing a woman win

02:53the event. Certainly a game changer I feel. We have been working very closely with DP

03:05World Tour and we are one of five recognised clinics for the tour globally. We are the

03:12only one in the region, three of them being based in Europe and another one in Asia. We

03:18have a lot of golfers that actually are resident in Dubai and these golfers they know that

03:23they can contact us any time. We have them coming through the clinic. We also have golfers

03:28that travel through when they're practising or certainly those that come early before

03:32events from prepping for the events and they know they can call us to sort out any ailments

03:37or niggles ahead of the event that they're competing in. Some people actually come and

03:43stay here for the whole winter season. The likes of Tommy Fleetwood has done so and it

03:48just means that he's got a base and he knows they can contact us and we create a good rapport

03:53not just with the players but with the family. And an extension of that is also working with

03:59the tour staff who either reside here in preparation, you've got the team based at Jumeirah Golf

04:04Estates and you've also then got other people that come through in preparation.

04:10We've been working with the DP World Tour physios throughout. We have a very close relationship. I

04:15often share room and space with them because I feel that's how we can integrate the care a lot

04:21better. The players tend to come through and see the physios on a regular basis. It might simply

04:26be for maintenance, for massage or it might be a new problem or an injury and if it is a problem

04:32or an injury that's affecting their play they'll give us a shout. I bring my portable ultrasound

04:38scanner so we can scan again to give them a diagnosis because normally these problems are

04:43musculoskeletal. There may also be medical problems and sometimes even more serious problems. I mean

04:48we have diagnosed things like melanomas and cancers and other quite serious problems on tour

04:55but we also mustn't forget that these staff and players don't often get enough time at home to

05:01see their own doctors so we are their GP. We are their sports medicine specialist as well as general

05:07practitioner, family medicine specialist so hence we need to be prepared to tackle anything on tour.

05:14We really have to have an extensive training and be prepped for anything that can happen

05:20from simple cold to major heart failure but in the middle most of what we see is musculoskeletal.

05:31Rob Hillman is the manager of the physiotherapists and the physiotherapy team

05:36and we have a great rapport and we continue to communicate even though we're not here on site

05:42all the time to keep updates of any ongoing problems and referrals that we've made to see

05:47what's happened to the players and occasionally we have to pull them out of events so it's just

05:51good to know when they're well enough to return. Having covered the event in Oman when Covid first

06:00came about and was introduced as a potential to the tour, all of a sudden we had a potential

06:07player and trying to get them back to the hotel and logistics of what car can they go in, who can

06:12speak to them was all quite daunting. We had fantastic support by Dr Andrew Murray and the

06:19whole management team who helped us make decisions that could keep us all safe and from what we

06:27learnt at the Oman event Dr Andrew Murray could then use that to introduce new policies and

06:33protocols to ensure that the tour could carry on playing with very very strict protocols, very

06:40stringent regulations in order to keep the golfers and the staff within a bubble to allow them to

06:47continue to travel and play and ensure the safety of everyone. Dr Andrew Murray and the DP World Tour

06:56arguably set the standards within sports not just in the region but also across Europe and was

07:02actually referenced to many other sporting events because it worked. So they used what Dr Andrew

07:08Murray had implicated and introduced to ensure that their own sports could continue as well but

07:13I think out of all the sports the golf is the one that's been most successful throughout the

07:18challenging Covid times. So through Roger Hawkes, Dr Andrew Murray, I couldn't fault either of them.

07:27I must say they've been extremely supportive not just to myself but to all the players and really

07:32pushed the services further looking to see what niches there are where they can improve and Andrew

07:39Murray's really also pushed the sports nutrition side of things and also pushed the screening, the

07:43skin screening services that they do to provide the tour and other services including sports

07:49psychology and lots of other services that can really support the players and their needs

07:54as they're travelling so many weeks a year.

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