Sports Medicine Master System

Jack Kiefer immediately became reserved.

In the world of American sports, Chen Yu was a real powerhouse.

Oden was even more timid. After entering the room, he kept his head down and didn’t dare to speak.

But Chen Yu, who was seated, suddenly frowned.

’This guy’s leg...’

’Does he have a leg-length discrepancy?’

During the previous game, Chen Yu had been too far away to see clearly. Watching him run so freely, it didn’t seem like there was any major issue.

But now that he was walking, Chen Yu could spot the subtle limp.

Chen Yu had a very sharp eye.

"Everyone, could you please step out for a moment? I’d like to have a word with Greg," Chen Yu said.

The few people present were taken aback, but they didn’t dare to ask why and quickly left.

Only Chen Yu and Oden remained in the room.

Motioning for Oden to sit, Chen Yu smiled. "Don’t be nervous. I just want to chat with you for a bit."

With his carefully controlled tone and pace, augmented by the system’s conversational techniques and some psychological tactics, Chen Yu easily defused the tense atmosphere and got Oden to open up.

After chatting for a while and building some rapport, Chen Yu casually asked about his leg.

"You noticed?" Oden asked, startled.

But on second thought, he realized that if a world-renowned orthopedic specialist like Chen Yu couldn’t see it, he would truly be unworthy of his reputation.

He rubbed his hip and said, "Actually, it’s because of a surgery I had as a kid."

Chen Yu nodded to himself.

’That explains it,’ Chen Yu thought. ’I just scanned him with the Eye of All-Seeing for a while and couldn’t figure out what was causing the leg-length discrepancy. So it was from a childhood surgery.’

It was a hip joint surgery.

When Oden was 11, he had a massive growth spurt, growing a full 15 centimeters in one year to reach a height of 1.88 meters.

This growth rate was comparable to Jordan’s own 17-centimeter growth spurt in a single year.

Such a rapid growth rate also brought him trouble: he developed a slipped epiphysis.

The problem was in his right femur.

The epiphysis is located at the ends of the body’s long bones. It continuously ossifies and grows, causing the bones to lengthen.

At a certain age, the epiphyseal cartilage disappears, and a person stops growing, their height becoming fixed.

When it grows too quickly or is damaged, it can easily lead to problems. Many congenital skeletal development issues are caused by this.

The same thing happened to Oden. At eleven, an age of explosive growth, the epiphysis in his hip joint slipped because it was growing too fast. He had an operation to repair it, but the surgery caused a partial premature closure of the epiphysis, which ultimately resulted in hip dysplasia.

At that time, a length difference between his left and right legs must have already appeared.

And as his body continued to develop, the subtle difference in length grew, eventually leading to the now quite noticeable discrepancy between his left and right legs.

"Dr. Chen, is there something wrong with my leg? Or rather, can it be treated?" Oden asked cautiously, seeing Chen Yu lost in thought.

He had known about this problem since he was a child.

But over the years, he had gradually adapted to it, and it didn’t cause any problems when he played. Still, it was a potential risk.

Now that he had unexpectedly met an orthopedic authority like Chen Yu, he obviously wanted to ask if there was a solution.

"Well, this issue needs to be looked at from a few different angles."

Chen Yu snapped out of his thoughts and smiled. "A leg-length discrepancy is actually a fairly common phenomenon. As long as the difference isn’t too great, it usually won’t cause any major problems, and the body will gradually adapt. Take Garrincha, for example. Have you heard of him? The difference between his legs was huge, but it didn’t stop him from being one of the best soccer players in the world."

Garrincha was born with a disability, and his legs were in much worse shape than Oden’s, but he still managed to carry Pele to a World Cup victory.

So, a leg-length discrepancy isn’t the real issue. Humans are highly adaptable; they can always adjust over time.

In a situation like this, forcefully correcting it isn’t always a good thing.

Just look at Oden now—he’s active and full of life, running as fast as an 18-wheeler. It shows that since he was 11, he’s spent five years adapting to his body’s changes.

Besides, he’s probably done growing. If he undergoes corrective surgery now, it might take him another five years to adapt to the changes in his body.

Not to mention the significant trauma of the corrective surgery itself.

Leaving it alone is actually the best solution.

It’s like a sports car that might have a wheel alignment issue causing some tire wear, but that doesn’t stop it from getting on the highway and roaring down the road.

"However, this is still a potential risk for your body. Because of the leg-length discrepancy, your lower-body muscle groups are imbalanced. Different patterns of exertion will place unequal loads on the muscles of each leg. If you make it to the NBA in the future, the higher intensity of the games means this excessive load will lead to corresponding strain injuries."

"So, if I were to give you one piece of advice, it would be this: you need to purposefully train the corresponding muscle groups for your specific condition. Make the weaker muscle groups stronger. That’s how you can avoid the physical harm caused by the leg-length discrepancy and prevent injuries."

The bone being a bit shorter isn’t the problem. The key is the muscles surrounding the bone.

As long as you train them specifically and make the muscles strong enough, the burden from the imbalanced force generation won’t really be a problem.

"Especially your right knee and your lumbar spine."

Chen Yu looked toward Oden’s right knee.

With a leg-length discrepancy, the longer leg bears more force during normal activity. But when landing, it’s the shorter leg that takes more force, because the longer leg has to accommodate the shorter one upon impact.

Oden is a basketball player who does a lot of jumping. The load on his right knee is significantly greater. Chen Yu had noticed earlier that the cartilage in his right knee was quite worn down.

And as his professional career gets longer, this wear and tear will only get worse.

At the same time, the leg-length discrepancy will cause a tilt in his pelvis and spine. This especially affects the intervertebral discs. Because the force distribution between the vertebrae is uneven, it can easily cause a herniated disc on one side.

He doesn’t have this problem yet, but the disc between his L4 and L5 vertebrae is already showing clear signs of compression. It will likely herniate in a few years.

To address these issues, he needs specialized training to strengthen those local muscle groups.

At this point, Chen Yu paused, thought for a moment, and then said, "Of course, you could also opt for surgery—a bone-lengthening procedure. We could lengthen your femur to truly balance your legs and solve this problem completely."

Training is one thing, but the underlying risk remains. Faced with a professional career that could last over a decade, the cumulative physical damage can be quite frightening.

’Thinking about it that way, a bone-lengthening surgery is also a decent option.’

Oden still spoke cautiously. "Dr. Chen, doesn’t that surgery have a very high risk of infection?"

Chen Yu nodded. It seemed Oden had definitely consulted other doctors and understood this option.

The procedure involves cutting the bone and then inserting steel pins for traction, allowing the severed bone to regrow to achieve the desired height adjustment.

However, the recovery period is very long—at least six months, to start.

And with steel pins inserted through the skin for six months or even longer, it can easily cause infection, or even chronic osteomyelitis.

At that point, it’s no longer a matter of lengthening the bone, but a matter of trying to save the leg from amputation.

"Indeed, the infection risk is high, and the cost is astronomical. If you do it now, you’ll be out for at least one whole season."

’The infection wouldn’t be too hard to handle,’ Chen Yu thought. ’Using the system’s power, I’m in a league of my own when it comes to controlling inflammation.’

The key issue was the cost.

The surgery itself wasn’t that expensive, since it wasn’t a particularly complex or difficult procedure.

The main expenses were the long-term nursing care and post-operative rehabilitation.

That alone was already very expensive.

Of course, with health insurance, it wasn’t a huge problem.

The problem was that a regular hospital would have limited effectiveness. But to have Chen Yu perform the treatment, the cost would be sky-high.

Using the system’s various effects to control inflammation, plus daily muscle maintenance and care, all for up to a year... to be honest, even for a million US dollars, Chen Yu would have to think twice about whether he was willing to do it.

Oden was just a regular high school student from a poor family. Even if he sold himself, he couldn’t come up with such a huge sum of money.

Only after he got into the NBA and had money would it be possible for him to ask Chen Yu for the surgery.

Chen Yu hadn’t even mentioned the cost yet, but as soon as Oden heard he’d have to write off an entire season, he started shaking his head.

"Dr. Chen, let’s just forget it then. I feel like my body is fine right now, and the team needs me." It was a critical time for him to boost his performance and gain more attention. If he chose to have surgery and sit out for a year, there was no telling what things would be like when he returned.

Chen Yu nodded. It was Oden’s personal choice. What could he say?

The two of them didn’t know each other well, and Chen Yu was under no obligation to reduce his treatment fees.

"Alright, let’s not talk about that for now," Chen Yu said with a smile, getting down to business. "The reason I asked you here is that I’m preparing a TV show, and I’d like to invite you to be on it."