Chen Nan2014-02-05 09:33:30 From：New Sports
● From the September issue of New Sports, 2012, dictated by Bob Chen, Written by Bai Qiang
Soon, I went abroad with the Women’s Basketball Team for warm-up matches. While they were playing with the Spanish team, one of other team’s player’s knees struck heavily against Chen Nan’s left leg during a collision. Suddenly, Chen Nan fell painfully to the ground clinging to her thigh. Chen Nan, 197 cm in height, is the team’s center. In order to carry on with the game, the team doctor simply ice patched her injured part, and in no time, she was on the court again.
This kind of scene is actually commonplace during games, and they are mostly local injuries. The next day, however, Chen Nan’s whole left leg unexpectedly swelled up. There were stasis, and bruises under the skin, and not only was walking \difficult for her, even being touched by hand, the pain was excruciating. At that time, everyone started to realize the problem was not a simple one. This was a serious muscle contusion caused by internal bleeding.
Our analysis was that the spot where the opponent’s knee struck was the muscle inside Chen Nan’s thighbone. Imagine it this way: after the instantaneously violent collision of the two bones, the muscles will inevitably tear, causing damage and bleeding, and the heavy bleeding can lead to bruising and swelling. During the match, the condition of Chen Nan’s injury was temporarily controlled, and the pain was not so strong, and she continued her playing. But the movement had made capillaries and small arteries begin to hemorrhage, causing more severe post-injury pain.
Based on the condition of Chen Nan’s injury, we used local massages, acupuncture and other medical means to control the inflammation, and at the same time, we carried on various rehabilitation activities to clear stasis and reduce swelling. One of the most important forms of training was swimming, which was conducted in the swimming pool of hotels and resorts.
But this was a difficult task for Chen Nan. It turned out this big Shan Dong girl was a “landlubber,” and she feared the water. I told her that the buoyancy of the water would reduce the body weight, and both the water temperature and pressure could massage the muscles, which would benefit the recovery of her injury. After she heard my words, she reluctantly agreed to enter the water, but her attire was utterly strange: swimwear inside her basketball shirt and shorts. When she stood in the deep end of the pool, the water only reached to her chest, and yet she was still afraid, and she stubbornly refused to get her head into the water.
As a former water polo player, I encouraged her on: “Don’t worry, I will teach you!” I asked her to pinch her nose, and close her eyes, and when she put her head under the water, to blow bubbles, then slowly transition to closing her mouth, and blow bubbles with her nose. In order to make her open her eyes in the water, I asked her to tell me what number I was holding in the water. Chen Nan was very smart, and she quickly mastered the skill, and could keep her head under the water. Following that, she asked me to teach her how to float.
When Chen Nan was floating on her stomach in the 20-meter lane, the whole pool seemed small. But she was top light and bottom heavy, so when she was flat on the water, her legs sank. I laughed and told her, “You look like a dinosaur.” I told her to kick her legs in the water, so she could float, and also “imagine yourself as a torpedo, tighten your body, and move forward like a line.” But Chen Nan had long legs and big feet, plus her movements were big, so she splashed water all over the place, and her body moved as if she were dancing. I asked her to kick more lightly, but kick to the point. Before long, she found the feel, and her fear of the water gradually disappeared.
Two days later, swimming 20 meters for her was not longer a problem, even though her breathing wasn’t very smooth yet. Later on, her thigh stasis was quickly reduced. In order to prevent further injury, we bandaged her thigh to limit its over-stretch. Chen Nan eventually recovered from her injury.
Before the Olympics, we made suggestions to the head coach, Gong Luming, that after games or training, the whole team must do stretching and other relaxation activities, and that besides, everybody should learn how to help other teammates to stretch and relax. Soon, this became a routine for the team, which had effectively reduced injuries like what had happened to Chen Nan.
Today, Chen Nan has become a Women’s Basketball Team veteran, and she once again represents our country taking part in the London Olympics. Seeing her tall and flexible figure, and recalling those days of helping to nurse her injuries, my heart is always filled with great emotion.
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