Sigman, left, during a training session

Scott Sigman, ’90, describes his June visit to the People’s Republic of China as “an epic adventure with far-reaching implications.”

This seems like a bit of an exaggeration until he explains himself. Then it sounds dead on. Sigman, a nationally recognized orthopaedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist, traveled to Beijing prior to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games to train surgeons in some of the minimally invasive surgical procedures he has perfected over the years. The Andover, Mass., resident who works out of Lowell General Hospital, was invited to participate in Johnson & Johnson’s
Active Aid campaign, an event geared toward training 30 surgeons from throughout the country in shoulder and knee techniques.

“While they are fairly current on knee procedures such as repairing ACLs, we were astonished to learn that in this country of 1.3 billion people there were fewer than 500 endoscopic shoulder opera-tions performed last year,” states Sigman. “Before our trip, the average person visiting the doctor for shoulder pain was given medicinal herbs and told to live with it,” he says. “So, in a manner of speaking, we were training the first generation of shoulder surgeons in China.”

Sigman with colleagues Andrew Chen, MD, and Timothy Kremcheck, MD, near the Bird's Nest (Olympic Stadium)

Sigman was in good company. He was joined by Andrew Chen, MD, physician for the U.S. Olympic Ski Team, Timothy Kremcheck, MD, team physician for the major league Cincinnati Reds, and David Weinstein, MD, orthopaedic consultant for the U.S. Olympic training facility in Colorado Springs, Colo. The four have known one another since Sigman’s 1995 fellowship at the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic in Los Angeles.
“It was necessary for us to bring with us our own cadavers because they didn’t have any,” Sigman adds. “We sensed that our presence was going to improve health care for the average Chinese citizen. They really appreciated our efforts.”
Sigman describes Beijing as “rockin’,” and adds that its modernization and sophistication are similar to many American cities. “Everywhere we looked there were bright colors, people wearing jeans, and traffic jams,” he says. And he was quick to point out that there were no political demonstrations during their brief three-day visit.

The mission was a collaborative effort between the International Olympic Committee and Johnson & Johnson—the official sports medicine sponsor for the games of the XXIX Olympiad.