The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 250

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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 250

I neither confirmed nor denied it.

Instead, I calmly palpated the masseter muscle.

The muscle that most commonly causes temporomandibular joint pain.

“You got Botox injected here too, right? Does it hurt when I press?”

“Yes, yes. Ah! It hurts.”

As expected, I could find a distinct tender point at the lower part of the masseter muscle, near the jaw.

I then proceeded to palpate the temporal muscle.

“Do you also have migraines?”

“When my jaw suddenly hurts badly, my head hurts along with it. These days the grinding sound is bothersome, but the pain frequency isn’t that frequent. About once or twice a month?”

“I see. I’m going to put my hand in your mouth. How does this feel?”

I put on gloves and checked the medial pterygoid muscle inside the mouth and the lateral pterygoid muscle on the cheek side.

Lee Dajeong grimaced, saying every single spot hurt without exception.

“Your muscle tension is severe. Not only the muscles that cause temporomandibular joint pain, but your entire neck is stiff.”

“Right? I don’t know what’s causing it. I even do stretching exercises.”

“Since there’s a problem with the joint, the muscles are tensing up as a compensatory action. Wait a moment, let me show you a video.”

I briefly showed her a video of how the temporomandibular joint moves.

When opening the mouth, the mandible, or lower jawbone, slides down along the protrusion of the temporal bone, and normally a small disc acts as a cushion to prevent bone-to-bone friction.

“In my case, that disc in the video doesn’t follow down, right?”

Having visited several hospitals already, Lee Dajeong knew well.

“That’s right. When there’s a clicking sound, it doesn’t come down, but when you extend your jaw all the way, it finally moves past the bone making that click! sound. Now it’s gotten worse, so the disc doesn’t move at all, causing bone-to-bone contact without cushioning, which creates that grinding sound.”

“…You’re saying it’s gotten worse?”

“Haven’t you been to a hospital since the grinding started?”

“Since the pain comes and goes, and the sound was less noticeable, I thought it had gotten better.”

“It has definitely gotten worse.”

I said firmly.

With less sound and pain, it’s easy to think it’s improving if you don’t know better, but the joint condition has actually deteriorated significantly.

“Sigh… Really…”

Lee Dajeong took a moment to complain about the doctors she had met so far.

“I haven’t missed the golden time, have I? You can treat me, right, Clinic Director?”

“Of course.”

Of course, that doesn’t mean it can’t be cured.

It will just take a lot of time, but didn’t Grandmother Heo Sunnam’s bent back straighten too?

Jaw disc problems can definitely be treated as long as Lee Dajeong follows through well.

“Look. Excessive muscle tension and imbalance created the disc displacement, and since the disc isn’t moving, it’s putting strain on all the surrounding joints and muscles. Inflammation can also develop in the joint cavity.”

“Yes…”

“I can’t immediately put the disc back in place, but if we release the excessive tension and make the muscles function properly, the joint will gradually stabilize and the disc will return.”

It’s the same with treating other disc problems like the back.

Continue treatment with the goal of reducing pain while helping the displaced disc find its proper position.

At my words that it could be done, Lee Dajeong expressed firm belief.

“Then, let’s record your jaw movement for a moment. Sound is subjective, so it’s better to confirm objective changes through movement.”

But I couldn’t let my guard down.

There was a very high possibility she would get angry a month later saying it was the same even though it was improving, so I left evidence.

“Oh my, I was jutting out my jaw like this when talking…”

I had already noticed while talking with her, but her lower jaw didn’t come down straight when her teeth were closed.

It deviated slightly to the right, then returned to the center.

“I had no idea my jaw moved like this.”

With the disc problem, it would be more comfortable to move the jaw that way.

I recommended doing corrections while looking in a mirror as much as possible, and taught her several more temporomandibular joint exercises.

“Now, let’s go to the treatment room.”

After finishing the somewhat energy-consuming consultation.

I sent Lee Dajeong to the treatment room.

“Why do we do hot compress? Does warming the jaw have any meaning? Ah, not there, a bit more this way.”

…She wasn’t an easy patient in the treatment room either.

“It promotes blood circulation to relieve stiffness and spasms~.”

Fortunately, Seol Yuhui answered with good sense.

After finishing the physical therapy well, I performed acupuncture treatment.

“Are you treating my neck too?”

“Of course. In cases like yours, Dajeong, it’s hard to say any one area is the cause.”

If someone comes in 2-3 days after jaw pain starts with problems only in the masseter muscle, then treating just that area would suffice.

But when the medical history accumulates over years, eventually all the muscles and joints supporting the jaw and cervical spine develop problems.

Finding the root cause becomes meaningless at that point.

“I’m going to insert pharmacopuncture into the joint cavity.”

I inserted pharmacopuncture into the temporomandibular joint space and thoroughly treated the four muscles I had palpated in the examination room, including the neck.

After the acupuncture treatment, I did chuna therapy back in the examination room.

As expected, I corrected not only the temporomandibular joint chuna but also the alignment of the cervical and thoracic spine.

“This really feels like it’s going to get better. I finally feel like I’m receiving proper treatment.”

“It will get better. No, you will be cured.”

There was a way to speak conservatively, saying it would be difficult to cure, but even if I put up such safety measures, it was obvious she’d cause a fuss if she didn’t get better.

The doctors who examined her before probably practiced defensive medicine in their own way.

Instead of recommending every possible treatment, I chose to definitely cure her.

“The Oriental Medicine Clinic also has auxiliary devices that can be done a bit cheaper instead of splints, but if the cost is burdensome, I won’t insist you must do it. Instead, watch carefully if you have a habit of clenching your teeth, and except when speaking, keep your tongue behind your upper teeth with a slight gap.”

“Yes, I’ll do that.”

Lee Dajeong accepted the treatment plan without difficulty.

She left the Oriental Medicine Clinic very satisfied with the first treatment.

“It already feels softer. Please take good care of me going forward.”

Phew, this kind of patient carries high risk.

But if she becomes a loyal customer, she’ll bring many more patients in return.

I cleared away all prejudices and treated her earnestly.

* * *

Park Sihwa and Lee Dajeong came to the clinic alternating every other day.

If they were acquaintances, they might come together, but the two never made appointments at the same time.

Park Sihwa’s treatment was going smoothly.

She was receiving additional treatment after reaching her target cycle, and Park Sihwa was happy, saying she felt her stress being relieved every time she came to the Oriental Medicine Clinic.

She was on a trajectory where I could feel completely at ease.

“How did you feel after the first treatment last time?”

Unlike her, Lee Dajeong had a long way to go.

On the first day of treatment, I had loosened all the muscles from her face to her neck and shoulders.

This was a question to check whether the treatment was too much or insufficient.

“Ah, on the first day, the treated areas were a bit more stiff. So I worried if this was okay, but after that, there was no sound for three whole days, you know? I think it’ll get even better if I continue treatment.”

It was slightly too much.

But Lee Dajeong wasn’t upset by the slight stiffness.

Her trust in me was still hitting 200%.

“The movement still isn’t smooth.”

She said there were still grinding sounds, and the trajectory when opening her mouth hadn’t changed much from the beginning.

“Let’s be patient and treat it consistently.”

“Yes, thank you, Clinic Director.”

I performed joint cavity pharmacopuncture as on the first day, then did acupuncture and chuna.

The following week, Lee Dajeong also came twice.

She had fulfilled the minimum number of visits I said she needed to make to the Oriental Medicine Clinic.

“Please take good care of me today too.”

When starting treatment.

“After doing this, I definitely feel comfortable. Thank you.”

When finishing treatment.

Lee Dajeong politely greeted me every time.

“Ah, it’s so good. I had wondered why Siha looked so much brighter, but when I looked in the mirror, I looked so good too, you know? I didn’t know that just having less sound could improve my quality of life this much.”

In the early stages, her symptoms improved with each treatment.

“Thank you again today, Clinic Director.”

Even when there was stagnation for a few weeks in the middle, there were no particular fluctuations.

Perhaps it was thanks to the results I had shown of considerable improvement.

Lee Dajeong’s promise to trust me lasted quite a long time, even while I didn’t let my guard down.

She visited the Oriental Medicine Clinic twice a week, on the same days, for over a month.

After proceeding with treatment for 6 weeks like this.

“…Um, there was no sound even once for the entire week.”

The movement of her temporomandibular joint had returned to normal.

Comparing the video taken on the first day with a newly taken video, it clearly looked different.

“Good. You’re healing well.”

“Really… thank you so much. I, I thought I’d have to live with clicking sounds for the rest of my life…”

Lee Dajeong wiped under her eyes with her index finger.

Of course, tears weren’t actually flowing, but her emotion was sufficiently conveyed.

Half of the initially predicted time had passed, and treatment was more than 80% complete.

Although the main symptoms had improved quickly, there was still a possibility of recurrence.

Actually, if she had been an ordinary patient, I would have gradually reduced the treatment frequency to once a week.

If she found frequent treatments burdensome due to being busy, I wouldn’t have stopped her from coming back when slightly uncomfortable after informing her of the possibility of recurrence.

But not Lee Dajeong.

I had to treat her thoroughly during treatment, completely blocking the possibility of future temporomandibular joint problems.

If I sent her off like this and she hurt again after a year, wouldn’t she blame me then, asking why this was happening when she had been treated for two months?

“Please follow through to the end. The joint can still return by inertia because your body is used to the original joint condition. Let’s repeat treatment a bit more until the joint stabilizes in its current state. It would be good to expand the treatment that had been focused on the facial area.”

The treatment up to now had extended beyond the jaw joint to the cervical and thoracic spine.

But now I suggested we do chuna therapy all the way down to the pelvis.

While the jaw joint and the sacroiliac joint of the pelvis are independent, ultimately all parts of the body are structurally and functionally connected.

There are rare cases where dental correction improves pelvic alignment, or pelvic correction cures jaw joint pain.

Since we can’t clearly identify the root cause of jaw joint pain, we need to treat all parts that could create a butterfly effect.

“Oh my, you’re going to treat my lower back too? Of course I’d like that.”

Since I was offering pelvic correction at no additional cost, Lee Dajeong had no objections at all.

Taking advantage of the momentum, I added one more treatment I’d wanted to recommend from the beginning.

“I’ll also prescribe some medicine for you. I’ll give you insurance-covered medication. It’s called Yokukansan, and it’s very good for muscle spasms.”

Since it’s not easy to convince someone to take herbal medicine for jaw joint pain, I had only recommended it now.

Fortunately, Lee Dajeong nodded readily.

“Ah, is it like a muscle relaxant? Western medicine had no effect at all… If the Clinic Director tells me to take it, I should take everything.”

Haha, you’ll get much better.

Haha, thank you.

We laughed together as we planned the future treatment.

‘I guess Ms. Lee Dajeong has also entered a stable phase now.’

* * *

Just when I thought the expanded treatment was going well.

“Clinic Director, I’m sure I told you at the beginning that I had no mental symptoms at all. Why did you prescribe psychiatric medication for me?”

The very next day.

I heard Lee Dajeong’s sharp voice.

‘Hmm~ I knew something like this would happen at least once!’

These kinds of ominous premonitions are never wrong, but I wondered how it had passed by so quietly.

Who would have thought she’d express anger like this when she was completely better.

First, I need to make her receptive to conversation, right?

“I clearly explained the treatment goals. I prescribed it for the purpose of relieving muscle spasms.”

I spoke kindly but firmly.

Flinch.

Lee Dajeong trembled as she felt the atmosphere change in an instant.

It seems she had looked up Yokukansan on an internet portal.

This part was entirely factual.

Yokukansan is actually a medication that can be used for muscle spasms.

It’s especially good for muscle tension caused by nervous excitement.

“Herbal medicine doesn’t have a one-to-one correspondence with Western medical diagnoses and drugs. I don’t think Ms. Lee Dajeong needs to be diagnosed as a psychiatric patient either.”

I took Lee Dajeong’s hand and made this point clear.

This was also true.

Even from my perspective, it’s not depression. It’s not an anxiety disorder either.

Narcissistic personality disorder? No.

There was no part that exactly matched any specific personality disorder.

“It’s for jaw joint treatment. Calm your excitement and listen carefully.”

…But anyone can see it’s strange.

Having no diagnosis is one thing, but we still need to solve the problem.

“I’m not particularly angry or excited-“

You can’t say you’re not.

Of course, Lee Dajeong wasn’t shouting loudly.

At most, she was just slightly sharp.

She was still maintaining clear pronunciation.

But her breathing was rapid.

Wrinkles had formed between her brows. Not only her jaw, but her facial muscles and her entire upper body including neck and shoulders were tense.

I smiled and stood up from my seat.

I gently massaged Lee Dajeong’s shoulders.

“Ah…”

Only then did she seem to realize something, her face flushing red.

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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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