Will Chinese Medicine Help Yao?

April 7, 2008— -- The decision of NBA superstar Yao Ming to head to China to seek traditional Chinese medical treatment for his stress fracture has orthopedic physicians and traditional medicine experts at odds over whether the healing techniques will do any good.

The 27-year-old, 7-foot-6 all-star center for the Houston Rockets was forced out of the season by a stress fracture in his left foot — specifically, a crack in the tarsal navicular bone, between the ankle joint and the middle of his foot.

Yao underwent surgery early last month when surgeons inserted a screw to stabilize the bone. Doctors involved with the surgery reported that the procedure was successful and that Yao would begin an aggressive rehabilitation program once he was up to it.

The surgery carries with it a normal downtime of four months. But it appears Yao is also looking to traditional Chinese medicine — a system that includes acupuncture and herbal remedies — to help speed his healing. On Friday, the Associated Press reported that Yao had arrived back in his home country to consult with the nation's top experts.

Some U.S. doctors, such as Dr. Robert J. Neviaser, professor and chairman of orthopaedic surgery at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., are skeptical that this extra step will do much, if any, good.

"I am aware of no scientific evidence that has established that traditional Chinese medicine modalities have any positive effect on stress fractures," Neviaser says. "We do not know a great deal about acupuncture, which seems to have value as an anesthetic alternative for surgery, but there is no data which show that it can help heal a fracture."

But some experts in Chinese medicine said that, despite the lack of published evidence, the modalities offered by Chinese medicine may go a long way in helping Yao cope with the painful injury.

"It is not unwise, and I would do the same if I was Yao Ming, given that, conventionally, there is not much active treatment — aside from passive rehab — offered by Western conventional medicine for stress fractures, either," says Dr. Raymond Chang, president of the Institute of East West Medicine in New York.