HOUSTON - CHINA'S giant centre Yao Ming is still recovering from a hairline fracture on his left foot and will try a new treatment to fix the problem, his NBA team the Houston Rockets announced on Thursday.

Yao underwent a bone scan at a Houston hospital on Wednesday and it showed that more work is needed to get the foot back to normal.

The Rockets don't want to estimate a time for Yao's return to training until they find out more about what is bothering him.

'Yao is not experiencing any pain in his left foot, however, the results from the CT and bone scans we performed over the past two days indicate that the hairline fracture has not responded to the degree that we expected,' a Rockets spokesman said on Thursday.

'We will review a variety of treatment options before proceeding.' The injury was discovered during the Rockets quarter-final playoff series loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Yao played almost all of last season but he has been hit with a series of injuries in the past couple of years. Three years ago he broke a bone in his left foot.

He played just 48 games in 2006-07 after suffering a right knee injury. The following year he played just 55 games because of a stress fracture in his left foot.

He competed for China in the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. -- AFP