{"id":581326,"date":"2026-08-11T11:00:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T11:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/581326\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T11:00:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T11:00:17","slug":"spinal-injury-transforms-pain-doctors-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/581326\/","title":{"rendered":"Spinal injury transforms pain doctor’s life"},"content":{"rendered":"

SINGAPORE \u2013 A car accident in 2008 left Olivia Ong with a back broken in half, months before she would have started a posting in spinal rehabilitation<\/a> medicine in Australia.<\/p>\n

The Singapore-raised doctor\u2019s goals changed from helping others regain physical function to practising medicine in a wheelchair and eventually learning to walk with aids.<\/p>\n

She is now a pain physician and specialist in rehabilitation medicine in Melbourne and has just released a memoir, Back On My Feet. Published by HarperCollins in Australia in February, the book will be released in Singapore on Aug 13 and retails at $35.95 before GST.<\/p>\n

On a video call from Melbourne, Ong, 46, says the book is a thank you to the people who helped her get back on her feet, physically and emotionally. \u201cIt\u2019s a love letter to the people who stood by me when I literally couldn\u2019t stand on my own,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

They include her husband, who works in business systems development, her family and friends, her doctors and physiotherapists and other allied healthcare professionals.<\/p>\n

She also wrote the book as a love letter to her younger self, whose sense of self-worth was tied to how far she could push herself academically and at work.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy parents never pressured me to do medicine. It was self-inflicted,\u201d she says with a laugh. Her parents are Singapore permanent residents from Indonesia, and Ong was also a Singapore PR from 1987, later\u00a0becoming an Australian citizen in 2009.<\/p>\n

She says that at school in Singapore and during medical training in Australia, it was expected for students like her to aim high, overwork and not show any vulnerability.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was not easy to love myself or be kind to myself because that\u2019s not the environment I grew up in,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen I was in primary school, the teachers were always shaming us and comparing us with one another. It was not great.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Olivia<\/p>\n

Olivia Ong in September 2025.<\/p>\n

PHOTO: JOYCE ONG<\/p>\n

From doctor to patient<\/p>\n

As a child, Ong was enthralled by the anatomical models at the Singapore Science Centre<\/a>, and by hospital drama ER (1994 to 2009). Her decision to aim for a medical career was cemented after shadowing a doctor who was a family friend, and volunteering at old folks\u2019 homes in Singapore.<\/p>\n

After completing her A levels at Raffles Junior College, she started medical school in Melbourne and decided to be a neurosurgeon. She met her Malaysia-born husband John in 2005 at her local church and they married in 2006.<\/p>\n

A year later, she switched her focus to rehabilitation medicine because she liked the holistic approach taken to improve a patient\u2019s quality of life.<\/p>\n

In September 2008, Ong went to the Royal Talbot Rehabilitation Centre for a tutorial, months ahead of starting a stint there in neurorehabilitation. A patient lost control of his car in the carpark there and slammed into Ong and her friend, who were both standing near a safety embankment.<\/p>\n

\"Ong<\/p>\n

Ong at the Royal Talbot Rehabilitation Centre in Melbourne in 2008.<\/p>\n

PHOTO: COURTESY OF OLIVIA ONG<\/p>\n

Ong bore the worst of the accident. She had a burst fracture of the L2 vertebra in her spine and a dislocation between the L1 and L2 vertebrae.<\/p>\n

In lay terms, her back was broken in half and her spinal cord was compressed, affecting the nerves to the legs.<\/p>\n

She had to have emergency surgery to stabilise the spine. A few weeks later, she entered the rehab ward at the Talbot as a patient, instead of a doctor.<\/p>\n

Doctor in a wheelchair<\/p>\n

She spent some three months in rehabilitation at the hospital, learning to move around in a wheelchair, and to move herself on and off the wheelchair.<\/p>\n

She became able to take some steps with assistance. Both legs were fitted with braces for support, but it was still easier to get around on the wheelchair. After returning home, she continued physiotherapy and hydrotherapy to build strength and mobility.<\/p>\n

She returned to work in August 2009, starting with a post in rehabilitation services at Caulfield Hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was driven by the desire or the obsession to prove to my colleagues that I could still do the job as a rehab doctor,\u201d she says. \u201cEven though I\u2019m in a wheelchair, I\u2019ve still got a brain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite an understanding boss and welcoming colleagues, her existence challenged unspoken norms about what a doctor should look like.<\/p>\n

Hospital corridors, doorways and lifts were often a tight squeeze. In a wheelchair, Ong found it awkward to join groups of standing colleagues casually chatting in the break room.<\/p>\n

She heard about the now-defunct Project Walk in San Diego, which had a different approach to rehabilitation for people with spinal injuries.<\/p>\n

In Australia, her physiotherapy was based on accommodating her physical condition, but Project Walk aimed to restore function through intensive, activity-based therapy. It was more challenging in many ways, including by discouraging the use of braces.<\/p>\n

\"Ong<\/p>\n

Ong in 2010 with trainers at Project Walk, a rehabilitation programme in San Diego in the US.<\/p>\n

PHOTO: COURTESY OF OLIVIA ONG<\/p>\n

Ong and her husband flew to the United States in 2010 for three months, and she returned every year until 2013. She progressed from being able to stand independently to being able to walk short distances with crutches and no braces. She built muscle strength in the gym and also a regimen of clinical pilates.<\/p>\n

She now walks with two walking sticks and wears an ankle brace on her right foot to compensate for droop.<\/p>\n

She continues to do hydrotherapy, clinical pilates and work with a trainer formerly from Project Walk.<\/p>\n

While she does not suffer nerve pain, she does feel discomfort and back pain from muscular imbalance or weakness.<\/p>\n

When travelling, or planning a long day out, she now happily settles into a wheelchair.<\/p>\n

\"Ong<\/p>\n

Ong with her husband John and their children Joseph and Jacqueline in September 2025.<\/p>\n

PHOTO: COURTESY OF OLIVIA ONG<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you read the book, you know I hated the wheelchair. But almost 20 years later, I\u2019m older and I love it now,\u201d she says. \u201cIt helps me conserve my energy and I can enjoy shopping because my hands are free to touch things and carry things. I don\u2019t want to be walking around and unable to carry anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

The one downside is that when she is in a wheelchair, people tend to address their remarks to her husband rather than her. \u201cAt the airport, they\u2019ll keep talking to him and just ignore me,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Life as an incomplete paraplegic<\/p>\n

Ong is a walking paraplegic, unlike the late American actor Christopher Reeve, whose spinal cord injury led to him being paralysed and needing a ventilator to breathe.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople think that paraplegics are chained to the wheelchair forever, but there\u2019s a grey area of people with incomplete spinal cord injuries,\u201d she says. \u201cI classify us as incomplete paraplegics because identity-wise, we don\u2019t feel complete.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ong can feel the urge to urinate or empty her bowels, but needs a catheter to help with urination. She has also been on laxatives since the accident to help soften her stools.<\/p>\n

She walks with a \u201csignificant limp\u201d, though that does not stop her from travelling, attending concerts \u2013 she is a big fan of the K-pop boy band BTS \u2013 and working full time. She spends two days a week in private practice and two days a week at hospitals.<\/p>\n

From her own experience, she knows that patients with chronic pain need relief from the agony first, before working on helpful habits such as cognitive behavioural therapy.<\/p>\n

They come in angry, distressed or so numb that they are unable to articulate their symptoms. Their nervous system is dysregulated, which can lead to other problems such as sleeplessness.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey come in with a variety of medical conditions. I tell my patients we need to tackle one thing at a time, that\u2019s how I can best help them,\u201d she says. \u201cYou have to calm the nervous system first and then they can work on other things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Developing self-compassion<\/p>\n

Nervous system regulation is her current interest and she has her own business, The Heart Centered Doctor, advising doctors with burnout.<\/p>\n

Healthcare workers, especially those who have read her memoir, tell her that they extend kindness to their patients, but not to themselves.<\/p>\n

Self-compassion is like a muscle that can be developed through practice, she says. Speaking kindly to yourself every day is a habit that can help.<\/p>\n

\u201cSetting boundaries is also self-compassion, as is allowing yourself to rest without guilt and accepting that good enough is enough,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cHigh achievers find that difficult,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n

In 2022, she and her now 11-year-old son Joseph co-wrote and self-published a children\u2019s book on self-compassion, Jo-Jo The Kind Sloth. It is meant to help kids like Joseph, and Ong\u2019s six-year-old daughter Jacqueline, be kind to themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the early days, when I was a patient, I wasn\u2019t able to show kindneboss to myself. That was a whole learning journey,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I learnt through my injury is that my self-worth isn\u2019t dependent on what I can achieve. That just changed the way I see the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back On My Feet by Olivia Ong is available from bookstores such as Book Bar and Books Kinokuniya ($35.95 before GST). Ong is launching the book in Singapore at Book Bar, 57 Duxton Road, on Sept 26 at 2pm. For details, go to str.sg\/isSe<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SINGAPORE \u2013 A car accident in 2008 left Olivia Ong with a back broken in half, months before…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":581327,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[163,521,85,46],"class_list":["post-581326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=581326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581326\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/581327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=581326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=581326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=581326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}