The cryotherapy chamber was an upright unit. The user would stand inside it to receive liquid nitrogen treatment.
Chen Yu didn’t rush to explain it to Carter. Instead, he asked Nojima Yuji if they could turn it on for a test run.
"Of course. The equipment has already been calibrated," Nojima Yuji said hurriedly.
Without wasting any words, Chen Yu turned and called for a player.
Soon, Clifford Robinson arrived.
Seeing the machine in front of him, he got a little spooked. "Chen, maybe I should just stick to the ice bath."
He’d heard it released liquid nitrogen directly. ’Won’t this thing freeze a person to death?’
Chen Yu knew what he was worried about. "Don’t worry, it’s very safe. Besides, I’m right here, aren’t I?"
Nojima Yuji’s side had sent over many case studies of the treatment, and Chen Yu had only placed the order after repeatedly confirming its safety.
As he spoke, Chen Yu scanned Robinson’s body with his Eye of All-Seeing.
Their training session was nearing its end. With the Eye of All-Seeing, he could clearly see the buildup of lactic acid in Robinson’s body, as well as extremely minor damage to the muscles in several areas.
This damage was all minuscule, caused by high-intensity exercise.
Normally, the body’s natural healing ability would allow for a full recovery with just rest.
But now, this ultra-low temperature cryotherapy chamber could rapidly alleviate the condition.
A technician stepped forward and operated the controls to open the chamber door.
This particular unit was custom-made, as the guys in the NBA were generally two-meter-tall giants.
Seeing there was no getting out of it, Robinson steeled himself, gritted his teeth, stripped down to his underwear, and climbed into the cryotherapy chamber.
"You’re sure it’s okay?" he asked, looking at Chen Yu again.
Chen Yu nodded and directly signaled the technician to start the machine.
The indicator light came on, and liquid nitrogen began to be injected and vaporize.
Robinson, with only his head sticking out, shivered instantly and let out a strange cry, yelling that it was cold.
Chen Yu ignored him.
’Aren’t ice baths cold, too? It’s the same thing.’
"Negative 100 degrees?" Carter exclaimed from the side. The temperature was still dropping, finally stopping at negative 160 degrees.
"It’s liquid nitrogen!"
Watching the white vapor curling upwards, Carter instantly figured out the technical principle behind it.
In the medical field, there were examples of using liquid nitrogen to create low-temperature conditions for treatment.
’But for training?’
"Chen, you’re using this to reduce post-exercise inflammation and relax the muscles, right?" As expected of a top medical expert, Carter deduced Chen Yu’s reasoning with just a moment’s thought.
But even though he’d figured it out, Carter couldn’t help but sigh with amazement.
"You guys are incredible. It’s just basketball, but you’re more professional about it than we are at NASA."
The Anti-gravity Treadmill, the sensor data monitoring physical conditions, and now this ultra-low temperature therapy chamber... NASA didn’t even go to these lengths to train its astronauts.
At that moment, Carter felt he had absolutely made the right decision to come today.
’I’m really learning something here.’
Hearing the mention of NASA, Nojima Yuji, who had been standing by respectfully, brightened up and proactively approached.
"We can discuss it," Carter didn’t refuse.
However, with NASA’s level of technology, now that they knew the principle, replicating a machine like this would likely be a piece of cake. They could probably even make a better one.
Inside the cryotherapy chamber, although he wasn’t in direct contact with the liquid nitrogen, the ultra-low temperature of negative 160 degrees still had Robinson shivering and grimacing from the cold.
Chen Yu stared at him intently, observing his physical condition.
Although the temperature was low, the gas formed by the vaporizing liquid nitrogen was dry. Coupled with the low thermal conductivity of gas, the body would feel intensely cold, but it wouldn’t cause frostbite in a short period like direct contact with liquid nitrogen would.
Soon, one minute was up.
The technician stepped forward, ready to turn off the machine.
This treatment couldn’t be sustained for long, as the temperature was simply too low. As for the appropriate duration, based on the data they had collected, one minute was sufficient.
Any longer could lead to unpredictable consequences, such as frostbite, hypothermia, and so on.
But just as he was about to shut it off, Chen Yu stopped him.
"Wait a little longer."
A professional athlete’s body is a completely different concept from an ordinary person’s, and their training intensity far exceeds the norm.
One minute might be effective for an ordinary person, but it wasn’t enough for an athlete.
After waiting for more than another full minute, Chen Yu finally signaled to turn off the machine.
He now had a rough idea in his mind: two to three minutes should be the appropriate range.
It was his first time using this thing. Without the Eye of All-Seeing, he would have had to go through a lot of trial and error.
The chamber door opened, and Robinson emerged, shivering and hopping on the spot from the cold.
His body warmed up quickly. Blood that had retreated to his core organs rapidly carried heat back to his muscles. In this back-and-forth process, most of the accumulated lactic acid, ammonia, and other substances in his muscles were cleared away.
And that was the whole point of this cryotherapy.
Chen Yu tossed a blanket to Robinson and asked him how he felt.
"What do you think I feel? Cold! It’s way colder than an ice bath." Robinson felt as if he had been thrown naked into the icy wasteland of the Arctic.
Chen Yu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. "I mean how your body feels. The muscle soreness, the fatigue—has any of that been relieved?"
"Oh, that."
Robinson took a moment to assess himself and said in surprise, "You know what? It actually feels a lot better."
After a training session, aches and pains were a given. It usually took a good rest to feel any relief.
But now, that feeling was almost entirely gone.
Chen Yu nodded in satisfaction. It seemed the hundreds of thousands of US dollars were well spent.
Most importantly, it was convenient.
Preparing ice baths big enough to fit these guys was no easy task.
After hopping around for a bit, Robinson was feeling much better. As he got dressed, he said, "But Chen, I still think your massages and Acupuncture work better."
This cryotherapy chamber thing was effective, sure, but it was also seriously cold—a real ordeal.
Unlike when Chen Yu gave them massages. That was pure comfort from head to toe. It wasn’t torture; it was a pleasure.
’Of course it’s different,’ Chen Yu thought. ’I have the system and a skill bonus for my massages. How could it be the same?’
Carter, who had been watching silently from the side, noticed Robinson’s words and asked in surprise, "Chen, you know Acupuncture too?"
Even a layman like Nojima Yuji looked over in astonishment. How could Chen Yu, an orthopedic specialist and a practitioner of Western medicine, also understand traditional Chinese Acupuncture therapy?
"Thomas, you know about Acupuncture?" Chen Yu was a bit surprised himself.
Of all the doctors he knew, only Wash knew about Acupuncture.
And even he only had a superficial, half-baked understanding of it.
Carter nodded. "Of course. Don’t you remember that journalist from ’71, James Reston?"
’71?
’Of course I don’t,’ Chen Yu thought. ’In ’71, I think I was only two years old.’
Carter explained, "Reston was the vice president of the New York Daily. That year, when the president visited China, he went along. He suffered a sudden bout of appendicitis and had surgery in China."
"Post-op, he experienced abdominal distention. The Chinese doctors used Acupuncture on him, which quickly relieved his bloating. He found the whole thing incredible. After returning to the United States, he even wrote a special report about it, and it was widely discussed in the medical community at the time."
"Oh, and in his report, he also mentioned that the Chinese doctors used something that looked like a cigar, lit it, and used it to heat his abdomen. Do you know what that is?"
Chen Yu nodded. ’Duh, of course I know. Isn’t that just Moxibustion?’
"What happened after that?" Chen Yu pressed.
Carter shrugged. "There was no ’after that.’ Basically, nobody understood the treatment method, and sticking needles into someone’s body just felt a bit unreliable."
But as he said this, he seemed to recall something. "I do remember, though, that two years ago, the NIH established a center for complementary and alternative medicine. Acupuncture was listed as a complementary medical treatment. I think the National Clinical Center even has an Acupuncture department."
Chen Yu had only started practicing Acupuncture after getting the system last year, so he wasn’t very familiar with its history and development in the United States.
’So, according to Carter, the United States government does officially recognize Acupuncture as a treatment.’
’The NIH... that’s the National Institutes of Health.’
Snapping back to the present, Chen Yu smiled. "Actually, Acupuncture is quite reliable."
As he spoke, Chen Yu’s gaze fell on Carter. "Thomas, do you have problems with constipation?"
The Eye of All-Seeing could see it all. His colon was practically stuffed full.
"How did you know?" Carter was stunned.
He did suffer from constipation from sitting at a desk too much.
The key was, how could Chen Yu tell without running any tests?
Chen Yu didn’t explain, simply saying, "I have a method that can relieve your constipation with Acupuncture. Want to give it a try?"
Carter nodded eagerly. He very much wanted to.
The steel needles in the physical therapy room were readily available. Chen Yu had Carter sit down and began to retrieve and sterilize the needles.
He used the old method for inserting the needles, selecting the Dachangshu and Tianshu acupoints, and finally, the Zhigou point on the hand.
Carter watched with rapt attention, seemingly fascinated by how such long needles could be inserted under the skin with almost no bleeding and no pain.
He especially couldn’t understand why, for a problem with his intestines, his hand was being needled.
Just as he was about to ask why, Chen Yu twirled the silver needles. A sensation suddenly started in his abdomen, growing stronger and stronger. As Chen Yu removed the needles, the feeling reached its peak.
"Chen, it’s working!"
Carter shot up, hastily gave a thumbs-up, and without another word, rushed straight to the restroom.
This scene left Carter’s assistant dumbfounded, his eyes wide in disbelief.
’Just a few needles and it cured his constipation?’
’That’s too amazing.’
The few others watching, including Nojima Yuji, were also clearly quite shocked.
"Dr. Chen, you are truly incredible."
Nojima Yuji showered him with compliments, though he reasoned that since Chen Yu was of Chinese descent, it was understandable that he would know Acupuncture.
Robinson, on the other hand, was unfazed. He took the opportunity to sit down, pointed to his shoulder, and asked Chen Yu to give him a couple of needles.
"That guy Chris, he slammed into me earlier and it’s killing me."
Since it was a simple matter, Chen Yu began inserting the needles right away.
Just as he was doing so, a relieved and comfortable Carter returned. He gave another thumbs-up. "Chen, you should really write a book to properly introduce this amazing treatment method."
As he spoke, he noticed Chen Yu performing Acupuncture on Robinson and immediately moved closer.
’How do you know I’m not already writing one?’ Chen Yu thought. ’I’ve been working on it this whole time.’
’Publishing a book, making a name for oneself—who would turn that down?’
It’s just that work was too busy, and he didn’t have much time.
Seeing Carter’s interest, and given that the man hadn’t come empty-handed, Chen Yu took the initiative to explain the principles of Acupuncture to him.
"For acute injuries, I still recommend common methods like painkillers or surgery. But for chronic injuries, I find that Acupuncture is more effective. It primarily activates the body’s immune capabilities, such as the circulatory system and metabolic functions, which in turn enhances its self-healing ability and aids in treatment."
The more he used Acupuncture, the deeper his understanding of it became.
His mastery of knowledge in the field of Sports Rehabilitation had even increased by several percentage points.
Using Acupuncture isn’t like surgery, where the problem is resolved immediately after the procedure. Instead, it activates and strengthens the body’s own self-healing ability to achieve an eventual cure.
After all, when you get down to it, many illnesses are ultimately overcome by the body’s own healing power.
Carter nodded repeatedly. At some point, he had even taken out a small voice recorder and was silently recording what Chen Yu was saying.
"Chen, I find your medical philosophy to be very novel and also very useful, especially in the areas of training and rehabilitation. You have a lot of unique insights. If it’s possible, could I stay and learn from you for a while?"
Originally, after this meeting and observing Hardaway and Hill’s recovery status, Carter had planned to return to Washington.
But now, Carter suddenly realized that Chen Yu had a lot to offer that was worth learning.
Especially rehabilitation.
He was a member of NASA’s medical team, and his primary duty was to ensure the health of the astronauts.
Astronauts get injured too, and their treatment and rehabilitation post-injury was their main job.
And training.
He wouldn’t have known if he hadn’t seen it, but now that he had, Carter was astonished to find that many of their training and rehabilitation concepts were actually inferior to those of a basketball team.

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