Old Yang scratched his head, a bit embarrassed.
An American doctor actually knew more about Chinese medicine than he, a Chinese doctor, did. He felt a little ashamed. Glancing at the player in front of them, Old Yang asked tentatively, "Dr. Chen, if you were to treat his sprain, what would you do? Just Acupuncture?"
Chen Yu shook his head. "Of course not. Whether it’s Acupuncture or acupressure, those are just methods of treatment. When a player gets injured, the first thing we must do is a comprehensive evaluation. First, assess *why* he got injured. Was it overtraining, a problem with his training methods, or simply an accident? Find the root cause first to prevent similar issues from happening again."
"In my opinion, a team doctor’s job isn’t just about treating injuries. The greater responsibility is to prevent injuries from occurring in the first place."
Since this was an exchange, Chen Yu decided to share more of his experience.
Li Yaoming translated diligently. Old Yang listened, his expression turning thoughtful.
Yao Songping had the same expression, nodding in agreement. "Exactly. The *Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor* says, ’The sage does not treat those who are already ill but treats those who are not yet ill. He does not govern that which is already in chaos but governs that which is not yet in chaos.’ It means we must prevent problems before they arise and avoid injuries. We still aren’t doing enough in this area."
Chen Yu continued, "Second, as a team doctor, you also need to communicate with the coaches and other responsible parties. You create different treatment plans based on their required timeline for the player’s return. If he’s urgently needed for an important game, you can be more aggressive and use stronger medication. Or, if an injury can be treated conservatively or with surgery, but the athlete has enough time to recuperate, then from a long-term perspective, if surgery is necessary, it should be done."
"Everyone’s situation is different. You can’t just apply the same treatment to all of them. You have to create different treatment plans based on each player’s individual circumstances. As for how to weigh the options, that comes down to the team doctor’s experience."
Chen Yu had encountered this sort of thing many times.
This was true not only from his time as a team doctor but also from his days as a physician.
Different doctors will give different treatment plans. Some might even delay recovery. So, extensive experience is truly necessary.
Old Yang nodded thoughtfully, subconsciously starting to reflect on his own practices.
There were many athletes at the academy but only a few full-time doctors. Often, when an injury occurred—an ankle sprain, for example—they would all receive the same treatment and be given the same recovery period. But just as Chen Yu said, the specifics of each athlete’s injury and their recovery abilities were different. It was indeed necessary to treat each case individually.
Even the injured player, Jia Xiaozhong, subconsciously glanced at Old Yang, thinking, ’Don’t you dare mess up my treatment.’
"And what’s next?" Yao Songping pressed.
Chen Yu said, "Next is the treatment, of course. Acupuncture, medication, surgery... there isn’t much to say about this part. You treat the injury as it should be treated. At most, the difference lies in the skill level of each doctor, leading to different treatment plans."
"But I believe that compared to the treatment itself, post-treatment rehabilitation is the most important part. Whether an athlete can make a full, healthy recovery depends on it. Post-treatment rehab accounts for at least seventy percent of the outcome."
For any injury, the best treatment is always to recuperate. Only with enough time can one heal completely.
"Take his sprained ankle, for example. There’s a 48-hour acute phase. After the acute phase, the inflammatory response begins, so controlling inflammation at this point is the best option. Then, on the fifth day, the swelling peaks and starts to progressively worsen."
Chen Yu had treated countless sprains. Coupled with his Eye of All-Seeing, he had an unparalleled understanding of the pathological changes after a sprain. Even daily MRIs wouldn’t necessarily give a clearer picture than Chen Yu had.
What he was sharing now was wisdom distilled from countless medical cases.
"Also, starting rehabilitation early. For instance, with a grade-one ligament or tendon sprain, starting rehab training in 25 to 30 days, compared to starting after 40 days, can improve the final recovery time and functional performance by twenty percent."
This was all data Chen Yu had collected and organized himself. He would occasionally write papers to burnish his reputation, so he wasn’t just making things up.
Old Yang blinked and silently pulled a small notebook with a pen from his pocket and began taking notes.
"Finally, you can’t neglect the psychological changes in an athlete after an injury. Reducing mental stress is beneficial for physical recovery and allows them to return to competition faster and better after rehab."
Seeing Old Yang taking notes, Chen Yu also told him about the medications and dosages he commonly used for different situations.
Different drugs, and even different brands, can have varying effects. You need a wealth of experience to use them effectively.
Old Yang jotted everything down. Finally, he scratched his head and said to Li Yaoming, a little embarrassed, "I’ve never heard of many of these medicines. They must be imported, right?"
Li Yaoming glanced at the list and was even more clueless. He turned to Yao Songping and said, "Director Yao, there’s quite a difference between our domestic drugs and those in the United States. And I thought he was going to use Chinese medicine."
I heard Dr. Chen mention using Chinese medicine with the Suns, so I thought he would prescribe some herbal formulas for treatment. I didn’t expect it to be all sorts of Western medicine.
Yao Songping said, "Just write it all down for now. We’ll figure it out later."
Chen Yu paid no mind to what they were discussing and pointed at Jia Xiaozhong. "Then there’s the rehabilitation equipment. Mr. Li, could you ask for me how they would conduct his rehabilitation training after treatment in a situation like this?"
Li Yaoming immediately turned to Old Yang and asked.
He was the team’s general manager; frankly, his knowledge of these things was limited.
Old Yang looked at Jia Xiaozhong and said, "Well, first he’d rest. Once he can stand and walk, he’d start walking slowly. When the ankle isn’t so painful, he’d begin to increase the weight-bearing, moving from simple walking to jogging. Once his foot function returns, he’d start low-intensity training."
"How specifically would he train?" Chen Yu interjected.
Old Yang was a bit stumped. He rubbed his nose and said, "Just normal training. He’d do what the others do, but at a reduced intensity, of course. We’d take it slow, a gradual process. Finally, we’d take an X-ray. If there are no problems, he can return to play."
After speaking, he asked, a little guiltily, "Dr. Chen, is there a problem with that?"
After all, in his experience, this was how everyone recovered from injuries.
Since they were asking for his honest opinion, Chen Yu didn’t hold back. He nodded. "There is a very big problem."
This was a one-size-fits-all approach. After an injury, everyone followed the same rehabilitation plan. But everyone’s situation is different. A single ankle has four ligament groups and over ten ligaments of various sizes. A sprain can damage completely different ones from person to person.
So, the recovery must also involve targeted, specific rehabilitation training.
There was no anatomical model available, so Chen Yu pointed to Jia Xiaozhong’s ankle to explain.
"For example, resisted inversion exercises can strengthen the medial ligament group of the ankle." Chen Yu himself was a top-tier rehabilitation specialist. Having also studied under Nelson, a world-class Trainer, he could combine his knowledge with training movements and explain it all with complete ease.
Old Yang blinked. He never expected that for a simple ankle sprain, they had so many different rehabilitation exercises in the United States.
"This training is so detailed," Old Yang couldn’t help but say to Li Quping.
Flexion, extension, support strength, balance... just for an ankle, they had taken it to a whole new level.
Li Quping folded his arms. He was responsible for the team’s daily training, and for so many years, it had always been the same old things. Honestly, they had never trained with the level of detail Chen Yu was describing.
Just for single-leg balance training alone, from the way Chen Yu described it, there were many variations for training different parts and in different directions.
"Finally, there’s the equipment."
The equipment room from earlier was frankly pathetic. The equipment was too simple, and there was too little variety.
Simple equipment only allows for general training; you can’t work on specific areas in detail.
"You have far too little equipment, especially for rehabilitation. For my own clinic, I have it custom-made by medical companies. For example, for this balance training, you could simply use a foam pad or a balance ball. But in our clinic, we have custom vibration trainers that can be set to different frequencies. The rehabilitation effect is better, and it also significantly lightens the load on the physical therapist."
Chen Yu had so much equipment custom-made for his clinic and the team for two reasons: one, effectiveness, and two, convenience and to save effort.
Otherwise, assisting with the training personally would be too exhausting.
One or two people is fine, but with more, you simply can’t keep up.
So equipment plays a huge role.
And the Eastern Team’s training equipment could only be described as too simplistic.
Chen Yu’s comment that they had "far too little equipment" made Li Yaoming and Yao Songping a bit embarrassed.
The HSBC Training Base was already the best in the country. A lot of money had been invested in it. They never thought it would receive such an evaluation from Chen Yu.
Chen Yu didn’t pay much attention to their reactions. He thought for a moment and said, "How about this. If you need it, I can mail you some information later. Then you can find a company to custom-make the equipment or buy it directly from the United States. I can provide the purchasing channels. I won’t go into detail right now."
With the Eye of All-Seeing, Chen Yu had truly racked his brains to design a lot of custom training equipment. If he were to explain it all, he could talk for an hour.
Moreover, Chen Yu was never one to hoard his knowledge about this kind of equipment.
As long as someone needed it, Chen Yu was willing to introduce and promote it.
"Yes, yes, of course!" Li Yaoming nodded eagerly, his gaze toward Chen Yu now holding a bit more gratitude.
He couldn’t help but think to himself, ’He really is of Chinese descent, after all. He still values his roots. He’s not holding anything back at all.’
Besides, the whole point of inviting Chen Yu over for this exchange was to learn about these advanced training methods from the United States.
Last year, when the Wizards came to discuss Yao Ming’s draft prospects, Li Yaoming had proposed several conditions. One of them was about training; he wanted the Wizards to send people to help train the Eastern Team.
But the Wizards were scared off, and the matter was dropped.
Chen Yu added, "Of course, the custom equipment I mentioned is just some of the basic stuff. Besides that, there are some high-tech things that are also very effective. For example, the Ultra-Low Temperature Freezing Chamber. It uses liquid nitrogen to lower the temperature to negative 160 degrees Celsius, releasing the lactic acid built up in muscles after training in a very short time and alleviating athletic fatigue."
"Oh, right, we’re also planning to bring in a type of Floating Pod for training and rehabilitation. It’s a sealed chamber filled with a liquid of a certain density, creating a microgravity environment that allows the athlete to float suspended in the liquid. It’s like doing a backstroke, but without moving your body. This reduces the pressure on the muscles themselves, achieving the effect of muscle relaxation and relieving muscle fatigue."
This thing is also a piece of NASA technology.
And similar things existed in the United States as far back as the fifties, but back then they were used for neurological research in sensory deprivation experiments.
It wasn’t until 1973 that a medical team collaborated with NASA to create a similar floating pod for astronaut training.
"What temperature?" Li Quping let out a low cry, looking at Li Yaoming in disbelief.
Li Yaoming was just as shocked. Negative 160 degrees? A person would be frozen to death in an instant.
That was already incredible enough, and now there was some kind of microgravity floating pod?
He looked at Yao Songping, wanting very much to ask him, the nation’s top sports research expert, if he knew about this stuff.
Yao Songping didn’t speak. He had already been impressed by the custom equipment Chen Yu mentioned earlier, things he had never seen before. Who would have thought that in Chen Yu’s words, they were just "some of the basic stuff."
And now these high-tech devices like the Ultra-Low Temperature Freezing Chamber and Floating Pods... he had never even heard of them.
’We’ve really become country bumpkins,’ he thought.
Yao Songping looked at Chen Yu, his heart filled with a thousand emotions. He knew there was a huge gap between the level of training in China and that in the United States, at the world’s top level, but he never imagined the gap was this enormous.

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