Gold standard medical care

'Champion hands'

The public has some knowledge that certain kinds of sports are linked with certain injuries, such as meniscus tears in runners, but most people know little about the damage that long-distance running can do to the whole body.

"Running stems from prehistoric times, when our ancestors would hunt," Wang said. "During the process, our bodies must employ all of the energy possible to support the muscles, and, as such, the blood supply to the organs might decrease temporarily, which results in damage.

"That's only one example. Many sports might result in muscle strain, muscle contusion, bone fractures and ligament injury, among others," said Wang, adding: "It's the responsibility of sports science to closely integrate professional knowledge with public applications, and use medical means to protect the health of everyone who exercises."

Wang pointed out that it means not only promoting the recovery of the athletes when injuries happen, but also trying to minimize such damage or prevent injuries from happening in the first place. Measures range from medical monitoring and massage, to exercises under therapists' guidance for light injuries, then to surgical operations for more serious issues.

Unlike the impression that rehabilitated patients suffer permanent issues, Wang pointed out that, for athletes, rehabilitation is a common experience and they often recover to a point where they still compete for, and win, gold medals.

In Paris, Hong Kong, China's Vivian Kong Man-wai won a fencing gold in the women's epee. Based on her performance, few would have realized that she suffered a torn ACL in her left knee in 2017 and another in her right knee in 2019.

For both, she returned to competition after just a few months, clinching the Asian Championship title following her surgery in 2017, and then winning the World Cup championship after her treatment in 2019.

Among the mainland athletes, there are quite a few who have spent time under Wang's care.

"Professor Wang has the nickname 'champion hands' because of the number of patients that won their gold medals after receiving surgery from him," said Li Dai, a departmental colleague at Peking University Third Hospital.