Healing Doctor

Chapter 352 Injuries Not Fatal, But That Could End a Career

Ji Xiang, who has experienced aortitis, felt a deep sense of empathy. He described it as feeling like a child was sitting on his shoulder, and the child was growing rapidly, making his shoulder increasingly heavy. The child would occasionally cover his eyes and "joke" with him.

But the feeling of heaviness in my shoulder was different from what I feel now, and it didn't feel like there was a knife inside, stabbing me. The pain is easing now, very quickly.

Although my right shoulder is slightly stiff, numb, and painful, the sensations are not as pronounced as when I experience other illnesses.

"I'm fine," Ji Xiang reassured the coach.

The coach's face was gloomy. He had seen and dealt with similar problems before and knew what would happen if such problems occurred, so Ji Xiang's words of comfort were meaningless to him.

The teammate helped Ji Xiang into the car, and the coach, with a gloomy face, floored the accelerator. The car roared, as if expressing the coach's resentment.

The coach remained silent, driving sullenly towards the hospital.

"Coach, I feel okay now, it doesn't hurt."

After the car jolted a bit, Ji Xiang stopped cursing the road administration department's ancestors' graves. He felt that his rotator cuff injury wasn't too bad, so he comforted his coach.

"You fucking know nothing!" the coach yelled. "You're an athlete! If you get a rotator cuff tear, it's highly likely your career is over!"

Ji Xiang was taken aback and immediately realized that "he" was an athlete.

Because of his outstanding physical condition and superb skills, he became a top basketball star after playing in China for three years. Although he failed to be selected for the NBA, he has already received an invitation from the Australian Basketball League and will be flying there soon.

The benefits of participating in high-level professional leagues are self-evident.

But during training just before leaving, he suffered a rotator cuff injury, no wonder the coach looked so unhappy.

Ji Xiang knew that the coach treated him well.

They didn't go to ordinary hospitals, nor to large, top-tier hospitals or those renowned top hospitals in China.

The coach took Ji Xiang to a "special" hospital—a sports rehabilitation center.

I had made an appointment in advance, so there was no need to queue or register; I saw the doctor directly.

When the doctor asked about his medical history, Ji Xiang answered in a clear and logical manner.

"Doctor, I feel like everything should be fine," Ji Xiang emphasized at the end.

After the doctor supported Ji Xiang's right arm and performed a few movements, Ji Xiang said.

"That's passive exercise. Now try raising your arm yourself," the doctor said.

Ji Xiang kept his right arm relaxed, not daring to exert any force. Having experienced this many times before, Ji Xiang found a comfortable position and maintained it, unwilling to risk injury.

Hearing the doctor say this, Ji Xiang strained his right shoulder slightly, wanting to try raising it.

I felt fine when I was relaxed, with only numbness and slight swelling.

However, as soon as Ji Xiang raised his shoulder, it felt as if a steel nail was embedded in his shoulder, directly piercing the supraspinatus, infraspinatus, subscapularis, and teres minor muscles.

The stinging pain came so suddenly that Ji Xiang cried out, "Ouch!"

Let alone abduction and external rotation, Ji Xiang can't even complete the most basic shoulder raise now.

The doctor sighed, "Let's get an MRI scan done to see what's going on."

"Dr. Yuan, is surgery necessary? Can it be cured with acupuncture or moxibustion? I had a teammate who was cured with moxibustion before," the coach asked worriedly.

"Let's do the tests first," Dr. Yuan said, while giving the coach a wink.

Ji Xiang has a keen eye, and having been working in the clinic for several months, he understands the subtext of the doctor's words and some subtle gestures.

As Dr. Yuan spoke, she winked at the coach. Given that this time they were in the same boat, Ji Xiang knew he would definitely need surgery.

As the two left the consultation room, the coach suddenly said, "I left my phone in the consultation room, wait for me a moment."

This approach was so thoughtless, but Ji Xiang didn't say anything. Instead, he smiled, trying to reassure his coach with a smile. He found a place to sit down, waved his left hand, and indicated that he was fine.

During this time, Ji Xiang had a physical examination. Passive exercise was fine, with only slight pain. This kind of pain was no problem for a top athlete like him who was strong and healthy.

But once you start moving on your own, even a little bit of force will cause you excruciating pain.

Ji Xiang wondered how things would go after the surgery.

But considering that the patient's bones had been ground down to the point of "melting," he probably wasn't feeling any better.

Once the thought crossed his mind, Ji Xiang seemed to understand why the 19-year-old patient had developed severe muscle atrophy.

I haven't dared to move for six months, it would be a miracle if I didn't develop muscle atrophy.

After a good 7 or 8 minutes, the coach returned.

"Coach, tell me what the doctor said, I can handle it," Ji Xiang said.

"Doctor...Doctor..."

"Is my career over?" Ji Xiang asked directly.

"It depends on luck and post-operative recovery," the coach replied with a somber face.

Indeed, the coach is right, Ji Xiang doesn't have any good solutions either.

He supported his right arm as he went with his coach to undergo various examinations. The results showed a partial tear at the insertion point of the greater tubercle of the supraspinatus tendon.

After the examination, Ji Xiang's agent came over in a fit of rage, his face even worse than the coach's.

This was Ji Xiang's first time working with an agent. He knew that the agent was probably motivated by money, since an injury would prevent him from playing in Australia's second-tier league and completely eliminate his chances of playing in the NBA.

Dr. Yuan from the sports rehabilitation hospital suggested surgery. After several days of discussion or arguments, the agent found Professor Smith, a well-known American expert, to perform the arthroscopic surgery for Ji Xiang.

To preserve Ji Xiang's athletic career, his agent did everything in his power.

This time, Ji Xiang experienced a rather long period of time, mainly due to the conflict between his agent team and coach, as well as waiting for Professor Smith, an American expert.

Professor Smith seemed very busy. His team took Ji Xiang to New York and waited for half a month before they could finally get in line for surgery.

Ji Xiang was fully aware of the surgical procedure, but Professor Smith refused his request to record it. Ji Xiang had no choice but to perform the surgery with his eyes closed.

After waking up from general anesthesia, Ji Xiang's only regret was not being able to witness the surgical procedure performed by a top expert in sports rehabilitation.

The recovery was guided by a professional team, and everything went very well, except that the expenses were too high. After more than ten days, Ji Xiang and others returned to China to carry out the next stage of rehabilitation training.

One month after the surgery, Ji Xiang felt that both active and passive movements of his right shoulder joint were limited. His range of motion for forward flexion was 120°, for abduction was 80°, and for extension and internal rotation was limited to the hip.

Follow-up X-ray showed no obvious bone abnormalities; MRI showed that the supraspinatus tendon was healing well, with a small amount of fluid accumulation under the acromion.

Next, Ji Xiang will face the "cruel" process of rehabilitation.

(End of this chapter)