The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 196

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 196

In fact, over 90% of musculoskeletal pain caused by traffic accidents can be viewed as blood stasis without major issues.

The body creates an inflammatory response to treat sprains caused by impact, and blood clots form at that location, but this dead blood obstructs circulation and causes pain.

Of course, in Kim Juhyeok’s case, looking only at the neck pain, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to categorize it as blood stasis.

So using several blood stasis medications as a routine for traffic accident pain is fine in itself.

It’s like mechanically prescribing anti-inflammatory painkillers and muscle relaxants in Western medicine.

‘Still, they should have at least asked if his stomach was okay!’

It seemed they had decided from the start that he was faking it and didn’t even ask about his symptoms when examining the patient.

For patients like Kim Juhyeok where other parts are more problematic, or those with poor digestive function, or extremely deficient patients, it could actually cause discomfort.

‘As expected, phlegm-dampness is more of a problem than blood stasis.’

The slippery pulse was much more distinct than the rough pulse that indicates blood stasis syndrome.

Since he says the symptoms feel similar, it’s right to follow the pulse in such cases.

“For traffic accidents, herbal prescriptions are possible for up to 21 days. Since you’ve already used 5 days, you have 16 days remaining. I’ll try to alleviate your dizziness as much as possible within this period. It’s a medicine called Jaeum-geonbi-tang.”

“Ah, yes. Jaeum… wait, I can only take it for two weeks? Aren’t herbal medicines usually taken for a month?”

Kim Juhyeok wrote down the medicine name, then questioned the medication period.

“The period for medication coverage under car insurance is set by the government. If symptoms remain, we can discuss whether we can finish with acupuncture or if a non-covered prescription is needed. I think you’ll improve significantly even with just 16 days.”

Though I spoke confidently since the pulse wasn’t serious, Kim Juhyeok looked quite anxious.

Understandably so, since no treatment had worked for the past week.

Setting limits on medication and treatment periods is quite frustrating when treatment is needed.

But from the perspective of creating the system, they had no choice but to consider situations where doctors and patients conspire to take tonics for extended periods.

‘Still, 21 days is too short! If they get prescriptions elsewhere, I can’t even use the medicine!’

What can I do? For now, I have to provide the best treatment possible within the system.

“I’ll write detailed medication instructions for you, so don’t worry. And I’ll treat the cervical pain with acupuncture.”

“Ah, yes.”

“Did you receive an explanation about whiplash injury at Hwangje Korean Medicine Hospital?”

“Uh…”

Kim Juhyeok’s eyes darted around.

“I’ll explain it again. When a car rear-ends you, your neck bends forward greatly in hyperflexion, then bounces back in hyperextension like this.”

I displayed two photos while explaining.

“This motion resembles whipping, so it’s called Whiplash-Associated Disorders (WAD). It’s a comprehensive term for neck pain caused by traffic accidents. In your case, the splenius muscles at the back of your cervical spine are spasming, causing referred neck pain.”

Then I moved behind Kim Juhyeok and checked several trigger points on the back of his neck.

“Ah, the C1-C2 facet joint here is also slightly misaligned. We can correct that with chuna manipulation. The main problem is ultimately ligament damage and muscle tension connecting the cervical vertebrae.”

“I need to receive acupuncture directly on my neck, right?”

“That would be best. The ideal treatment would be pharmacopuncture up to the facet joints, direct treatment of the neck, shoulders, and head, plus chuna manipulation, but if you’re afraid of needles in your neck…”

“Please do that! I feel like if you put needles right here, it’ll heal refreshingly! I was going crazy with them just lightly tapping five or six needles on my shoulders.”

Occasionally there are patients who avoid direct neck treatment due to fears like ‘What if you pierce the carotid artery?’ or ‘Won’t I die if my neck gets punctured?’

But Kim Juhyeok was the complete opposite, asking me to definitely treat the back of his neck and pointing to the trigger points I had just pressed.

“I’ll treat all your painful areas thoroughly.”

I sent Kim Juhyeok to the treatment room.

Heat therapy or physical therapy wouldn’t be much different.

No, it might even be inferior to the machines at Hwangje Korean Medicine Hospital.

But the acupuncture would definitely be different.

A 38mm needle for the sprain injury site.

I injected herbal medicine containing anti-inflammatory ingredients to sufficient depth and placed needles along the cervical spine.

Sometimes I directly use the Du Meridian, which is one of the Conception and Governing Vessels at the very center of the body, but placing needles directly above the spine carries the risk of piercing the spinal cord, so I place them slightly to the left and right.

“Ooh!”

“Does it hurt?”

“Oh, no, excuse me. I’m sorry. That spot just felt so refreshing.”

“Haha, don’t move and stay still.”

I carefully placed needles not only in the cervical spine but also in the severely stiff sternocleidomastoid, trapezius, and levator scapulae muscles.

Even if ligament treatment takes time, the pain should decrease significantly once these muscles relax.

‘Levator scapulae…’

Come to think of it, there was a Korean medicine doctor, no, a Korean medicine student who couldn’t properly treat this one muscle.

Suddenly I recalled an annoying face I had forgotten for a long time.

That was also a traffic accident, one he had caused himself.

‘Has he graduated by now? He should be able to properly treat the levator scapulae at least, right?’

Hoping so, I thoroughly treated the muscles and ligaments supporting the shoulder girdle.

“This point helps with dizziness.”

Then I placed a few more needles on his head and limbs to finish.

“I’ll leave them in for 20 minutes.”

“Thank you.”

He looked like a hedgehog and was very satisfied.

A little later.

After finishing the acupuncture treatment, I performed cupping to directly draw out blood and remove blood stasis.

Finally, I had him come to the examination room for chuna treatment.

Sometimes I do chuna first, but in today’s case, the muscle stiffness was severe, so I loosened it up first with acupuncture and cupping.

“Clinic Director!”

Kim Juhyeok’s face as he opened the examination room door had changed so much I wondered if he was the same person.

When he first came in, he was blunt, with suspicion and a fighting spirit burning in his eyes, determined not to be looked down upon.

But in less than an hour, Kim Juhyeok bowed his head with a face no different from any other believer… no, patient.

“It feels like I had a weight hanging from my neck and then took it off! I didn’t know acupuncture could improve things this much in one session!”

“Haha, I’m glad you’re recovering quickly.”

“Really. I finally feel like I can live now. Oh, it’s not completely healed, but it feels like the 50kg weight has been reduced to about 10kg.”

50kg… that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but anyway, it’s been reduced to one-fifth.

I had him lie down on the chuna bed right away.

“My back is fine, only my neck hurts. At Hwangje Korean Medicine Hospital, they kept doing that thumping thing only on my back, which made me more dizzy.”

“Releasing tension in the entire torso is meaningful. You don’t realize it now because your neck hurts too much, but back pain could develop later. Of course, I won’t do drops, and today I’ll focus mainly on the neck. Please let me know if your back hurts next time.”

“Yes!”

I also usually treat up to the lower back and pelvis even when the neck hurts, and up to the neck even when the back hurts, but today I followed Kim Juhyeok’s needs.

Anyway, if he showed this much improvement on the first treatment, he would continue coming for a while.

It wouldn’t be too late to treat the neck first and then gradually correct the body’s balance.

I lightly loosened only the superficial muscles of the back.

For the neck, I performed chuna by moving each adhered cervical joint.

“Ah, I’m just going to adjust this one thing. There might be a sound.”

With a crack sound, I adjusted the slightly misaligned joint.

“Oh!”

The muscles relaxed well too.

“Try sitting up. Put your hands behind your head and clasp them together.”

Crack crack crack!

Finally, I performed a thoracic thrust to refreshingly loosen his shoulders and back.

I wanted to give him a refreshing cervical thrust too, but the pain was still too severe.

“Wow, that’s refreshing. Now I really feel like I can live!”

Kim Juhyeok greeted me politely, but somehow I had the illusion of seeing him hopping around.

“You worked hard today. The medicine will be ready tomorrow, and traffic accident pain easily leads to aftereffects, so please try to make time to come every day during the treatment period.”

“Yes, I’ll do that!”

He still had his hand on his head due to the remaining dizziness, but just having his neck feel lighter kept a smile on his face.

Kim Juhyeok’s future treatment should be worry-free.

I sent the prescription to An Juhui and leaned back in the examination room chair.

I didn’t have much time to rest.

I was seeing all the patients that Hwang Sanghun was originally supposed to see.

[Older Brother, is the Busan branch also part of Director Jeong Suhwan’s faction?]

But suddenly curious, I sent a message to Hwang Sanghun in that brief moment.

How did the work go that a patient wandered around like that and then came to me through Sowon General Hospital?

Anyway, I felt relieved that he would get better, but also bitter.

‘He’s not reading it.’

Since Hwang Jihun was begging to be saved, Hwang Sanghun must be very busy too.

He’ll answer when he sees it later, I guess.

After that, I asked about other things I was curious about in succession.

[Seeing the traffic accident patient suddenly reminded me, did Cho Haneul graduate safely?]

The number 1 next to the message still didn’t disappear.

“Clinic Director, it’s a follow-up patient requesting a consultation…”

“Yes, please bring them in right away.”

I soon returned to treatment.

* * *

Hwang Sanghun’s reply came only after I got off work.

Quoting the first question about whether the Busan branch was also part of Director Jeong Suhwan’s faction,

[That’s right.]

he gave a simple answer.

The second question asking about Cho Haneul’s whereabouts was answered with a slightly longer sentence.

[I haven’t been in contact for quite a while so I don’t know, should I ask Minggyu?]

But there was no more information.

[No, there’s no need to go that far.]

Lee Minggyu? No, was it Kim Minggyu?

I was already getting fuzzy about my classmate’s name.

Even if our school had many students, if we spent 6 years together and 2-3 years had passed, I would have remembered.

In my last semester after returning from the martial arts world, I didn’t even think about memorizing the names of classmates I wasn’t close with.

Why would I bother going through several connections to confirm news?

Living life, I’ll hear rumors from somewhere eventually.

I completely forgot about Cho Haneul.

* * *

Hwang Sanghun worked extremely busy in Changwon.

Seongsoo Oriental Medicine Clinic also had a heavy workload, but coming here, there really wasn’t a moment to rest.

Even though the treatment areas were divided and he mainly handled musculoskeletal patients, he wasn’t used to the many hospitalized patients whose conditions were more severe compared to patients seen at local oriental medicine clinics.

Even with the same disc condition, there were patients with much more severe cases who had undergone multiple surgeries and had been hospitalized for months.

There was also a patient whose lower body was paralyzed from a motorcycle accident.

There were even terminal cancer patients who wanted to try oriental medicine treatment as a last resort, so the psychological burden was several times greater.

Of course, the university-affiliated Oriental Medicine Hospital was larger in both patient diversity and severity.

But doing only what was assigned as an intern was very different from directly leading treatment as a clinic director.

He had to make all the detailed decisions himself, like whether to provide a diabetic diet or how many times a day to check blood pressure.

Hwang Sanghun made rounds early every morning, thoroughly checking on patients.

“Hello, how are you feeling today?”

“Same as always. My back won’t budge at all.”

“Starting today, I’m going to try treating you with ultrasound-guided herbal acupuncture.”

“Yes, yes. Please do whatever is necessary.”

Then when a patient showed noticeable improvement.

“I feel much better after yesterday’s treatment!”

His mood would instantly improve.

“Can I also receive treatment from the new clinic director?”

…It was a bit awkward when patients under other directors made such requests.

“Where do you feel the worst, Chunseol?”

“My back, knees, calves, shoulders, I get dizzy, and my arms feel weak…”

In the past, when he first started independent practice, Grandmother Kim Oksun’s words like this would have overwhelmed him.

“Yes. I’ll treat you well step by step. And when everything hurts like this, it’s good to take herbal medicine alongside treatment…”

Back then he would have run to Hanyewon for help.

Now he had become quite familiar with patients like this.

“Do I absolutely have to take it?”

“You were hospitalized because you didn’t even have the strength to get up. Without external support, your body doesn’t have the energy to heal itself.”

“Alright… I’ll trust you this once, Doctor.”

When he calmly treated patients as he had been doing.

“Oh my!”

“Are you okay to walk?”

“I’m glad I took the medicine. I feel stronger now!”

There were patients who improved so much that even the caregivers were surprised.

Moreover, …honestly, thanks to Older Brother, he learned many things beyond treatment.

He participated in meetings where medical, nursing, administrative, and business departments all gathered, learning how the hospital operated.

Patients came through referrals from other patients.

Unlike oriental medicine clinics that operated with just Korean medicine doctors and nursing assistants, a tremendous number of people worked here.

‘I think I made the right choice coming here.’

Right now he was just observing and learning, but couldn’t this be helpful somehow later?

Hwang Sanghun felt somewhat proud.

After spending such a busy day and lying down at home.

‘Did something happen with the Busan branch? …Why did Haneul suddenly.’

There was a message from Hanyewon.

He was curious about what had happened.

And he also had something he wanted to tell Hanyewon anyway.

[The paper I was working on last time is almost done, could you take a look]

As he was typing a message to start that conversation.

Hwang Sanghun ended up dropping his phone.

And fell asleep as if collapsing.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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