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Yao Ming’s fans split on how to heal his fractured foot
Yao Ming, the center for the Houston Rockets, is a global symbol of East-meets-West: China’s first NBA superstar.
But after he fractured his left foot last month, fans in the United States and China are split over how he should treat the injury, the China Daily newspaper reported.
Media reports that traditional Chinese medicine - techniques developed over several millennia by Chinese doctors - would form part of Yao’s recovery process “sparked an outcry from his American fans,” the paper reported last Friday.
One American fan posted an online comment that “no clinical experiments have so far provided a scientific basis for TCM,” and the procedures would be “more appropriately described as witchery.”
Some Chinese doctors, however, would beg to differ. The government-run newspaper quoted several prominent TCM doctors arguing that Chinese practices might be more effective than Western treatments.
“In many respects, TCM treatment of bone fractures, especially wrist fractures and related problems involving soft tissue, has achieved results Western medicine has been unable to accomplish,” said Yi Ping, a doctor of orthopedics at the China-Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing.
The jury is still out on what - if any - role TCM should play in Yao’s recovery. Doctors for the Houston Rockets have said a March 4 operation was successful but they would need to evaluate his recovery.
Some Chinese sports doctors agreed that Yao should stick with care offered in the United States.
“We tend to use Western medicine when athletes break their bones,” Yan Hui, a doctor with China’s national speed skating team, told the China Daily.
“TCM is a very good method for rehabilitation, but Western medicine is more efficient in surgeries for athletes.”
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