Sports Medicine Master System-Chapter 133 - 91: The Effect of Tiger Play (Part 2)
"I can’t say it has zero effect, but he’s fine to play in a regular game for now. Don’t worry, we’ll keep a close eye on his condition." Chen Yu’s thoughts turned to Olajuwon. ’I promised Summer I’d treat Olajuwon, so I can’t just work on his knee. I’ll have to treat his spinal disc, too. Olajuwon is a center, and back injuries have a huge impact on his performance.’
Brian breathed a sigh of relief. "Chen, thank goodness you’re here," he said.
He had heard the whole story. Chen Yu had flown all the way to New York and discovered J Kidd’s problem. If their old trainer, Emerson, had been on the case, he likely wouldn’t have noticed anything. The issue would have gone untreated and eventually developed into a full-blown herniated lumbar disc, which would have had a massive impact on J Kidd’s career.
"Oh, right, there’s one more thing," Brian said, getting down to business. "The free clinic we held before got a great response, and we have another community outreach event coming up. I had an idea. There are a lot of nursing homes in the city, right? So I was wondering if I could trouble you again to partner with these nursing homes for a charity clinic event."
The NBA is always doing community outreach events like these, which usually just involve goodwill visits. The Suns, for instance, had visited local nursing homes before, which gave Brian the idea of combining a visit with a free clinic.
"Don’t worry, I’ll take a portion from the community outreach fund as your compensation. We won’t let you do it for free," Brian added.
Every team has a certain amount of funding for community activities.
"Sounds great."
Chen Yu’s eyes lit up. ’This is a great place to grind for experience.’
Middle-aged and elderly people commonly suffer from all sorts of issues due to physiological decline, like various joint and orthopedic diseases.
Often, doctors recommend conservative treatment for them, since they’re older and don’t need to work anymore.
But there were also plenty of elderly people who were young at heart and wanted to improve their quality of life.
This would provide Chen Yu with plenty of opportunities to grind for experience.
Most importantly, Phoenix is a nationally renowned sanctuary for recuperation. The people who could afford to come here for convalescence were, frankly, all wealthy. They had full health insurance and weren’t short on money.
"Great. The day after tomorrow, then," Brian said. After today’s game against the Jazz, they would have two days off before their next game, a home game against the Magic.
After seeing Brian off, Chen Yu went back to overseeing the day’s training.
The focus was on recovery, so the intensity was moderate. However, "moderate" was a relative term, considering how much they had recently ramped up their training. In reality, today’s workout was about as intense as their old regimen had been.
After practice, everyone voluntarily filed into the therapy room.
They soaked in ice baths and received therapeutic massages.
Chen Yu would also perform Acupuncture and cupping therapy on players with muscle contusions.
With such high-intensity games, muscle contusions were an everyday occurrence.
Then came lunch.
Which, of course, included a cup of his special "tea."
"Chen, can’t we put sugar in this stuff? It tastes awful," Robinson couldn’t help but ask.
Chen Yu shot him a look. "Melissa, get him another cup."
’This guy secretly spit into his soup. A perfectly good bowl of vegetable soup ended up the color of soy sauce. Did he really think I didn’t see that?’
Melissa cheerfully brought over another cup and personally watched Robinson drink it all before she was satisfied.
Of course, the post-training cool-down talks were also part of the routine.
The players were all used to it by now. They no longer sat there awkwardly in silence and would usually chat for a bit.
For example, Robinson even invited Chen Yu to go to a bar for a couple of drinks later.
"No, thanks." Chen Yu waved a hand.
’The bars you go to are different from the ones I go to.’
Robinson grinned. "Chen, you should really relax a little. Your girlfriend isn’t here, anyway. It’s like me—Tarren’s in New York, so she can’t control me even if she wanted to."
Chen Yu shot Robinson an exasperated look. ’What, are you proud of that?’
"Cliff, think about Ewing. You should take it easy and be careful not to get photographed by reporters. While you’re still in good shape, you should be focusing on playing hard and making money. That’s what matters," Chen Yu reminded him.
Just recently, the Golden Club incident had broken, implicating Ewing and even Jordan, and it was causing a huge stir.
Robinson’s expression changed, and he nodded in complete agreement. "Chen, you’re right. I should be more careful."
Chen Yu silently rolled his eyes at him. ’I guess that was a waste of breath.’
Last up was J Kidd.
During practice today, Chen Yu had noticed that J Kidd’s spirits were low.
It was probably because of his injury.
That was normal. Anyone would feel upset and overthink things when they got injured, especially with a long-term, chronic condition like this.
"Jason, your lumbar spine issue isn’t serious yet. Over the next little while, I’m going to discuss it with Nelson, and we’ll work on specifically strengthening your lower back muscles to resolve this." The best thing Chen Yu could do was reassure J Kidd that his condition was manageable and alleviate his anxiety.
"Oh, and when you’re at home, you should practice the Tiger Play I taught you all more often. It helps improve lower back strength, and it also strengthens the kidneys and fortifies your constitution."
There was no direct English equivalent for a term like "strengthening the kidneys and fortifying the constitution." Chen Yu could only describe it as being good for the kidneys, boosting a man’s vitality, and enhancing *that* particular ability.
J Kidd, who had been frowning, suddenly looked up and asked tentatively, "Chen, the Tiger Play you taught us... it really does all that?"
Chen Yu nodded, then remembered something else.
"Right. From now on, stop sleeping on a soft mattress. Switch to a firm bed—the firmer, the better. It’ll be good for your back." People with herniated discs should sleep on a firm bed, but here in the United States, the wealthier a person is, the softer their mattress tends to be, which is actually terrible for the lumbar spine.
