The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 272

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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 272

“What is swayback?”

The man looked at me while maintaining his awkward posture and asked.

I had been waiting for exactly that question.

I quickly searched for swayback on the internet and brought up the reference material on screen.

Fortunately, I hadn’t turned off the computer yet.

“Oh.”

As soon as I searched on the portal, a photo of some woman with a curved back appeared.

It matched Go Youngsik’s posture exactly.

“Hmm, ahem.”

Only then becoming conscious of his condition, Go Youngsik tried to pull in his stomach and straighten his shoulders.

But being conscious of it seemed to make him even more confused about what proper posture was.

“Patient, I mean Teacher, please stay in the most comfortable position like you were just now. If it’s okay with you, I’ll take a photo from the side to show you.”

“Ah, yes.”

I had already started thinking of him as my patient and misspoke.

Go Youngsik seemed curious too, as he didn’t particularly nitpick and let his body slump.

He’d be a patient returning to Seoul anyway, right? Since follow-up would be difficult, I just filmed with Go Youngsik’s phone.

“Normally, when viewed from the side, it’s most ideal for the human centerline to pass through the earlobe, 7th cervical vertebra, shoulder centerline, thoracic center, ASIS, outside of the knee, and ankle bone. Like in this photo here.”

I brought up another reference screen and pointed to the body parts of a person with ideally straight posture.

When standing straight like this, the force of gravity is properly distributed among the cervical spine, thoracic spine, lumbar spine, pelvis, and legs.

Even when standing for the same amount of time, there’s less burden on the body since the crushing force is reduced.

“In contrast, how about you, Mr. Go Youngsik?”

“The earlobe is quite far forward. Is the shoulder centerline around the middle of the upper arm? This is also forward, and the pelvis too, and knees too…”

As he immediately noticed, Go Youngsik’s body was severely tilted forward from center.

His knees were hyperextended, his pelvis was twisted backward while coming forward of the centerline, and his lumbar spine had lost its curvature, creating a straight back.

On top of that, his thoracic spine was curved while his face protruded forward, creating a strange body shape.

“I knew my posture wasn’t great, but it was really a mess. So this is called swayback…”

Go Youngsik scratched his face worriedly.

“If it continues like this, you could develop lumbar disc problems within a few years, and if your core muscles are weak, when the disc structurally bulges similarly, the pain will be much more severe. We need to fix this.”

“Actually, even now it hurts if I sit for just a little while…”

I added a bit more fear to that.

“Please lie face down.”

I sent Go Youngsik to the chuna bed.

This should be enough to convince him of the need for treatment, right?

Go Youngsik, who ended up lying face down on the bed, wiggled his fingers.

“I’ll start by loosening the overly tense muscles with a massage gun.”

“Ugh, ah… Yes. It doesn’t hurt.”

“It’s incredibly tight. Try touching it.”

When the spine is misaligned, naturally certain muscles become tense while other specific muscles weaken and stretch out.

I first had him feel the tensor fasciae latae on the outside of his pelvis and the hamstrings on the back of his thighs.

Go Youngsik’s hamstrings were rigidly stiff and even shortened.

“Now try feeling your lower back.”

In contrast, his erector spinae had no strength at all.

“…”

Go Youngsik’s face darkened even more as he felt the difference.

Leaving the weakened areas for now, I first loosened the hypertense muscles including the hamstrings by pressing with the massage gun.

“Now I’m going to do drops. I’ll start from the pelvis and work upward, so you might be startled by the thudding sounds.”

His pelvis was in a state of posterior tilt with excessive external rotation. I applied impact in the direction of rotating his legs forward and internally.

Thud thud thud thud!

Naturally, Go Youngsik’s pelvis, which had been misaligned for years with muscles and ligaments adapted to that state, wouldn’t return to normal immediately.

Not with ordinary drops, anyway.

Crack!

I applied a bit of energy.

So it could move smoothly without shocking the ligaments.

By continuously stimulating the shortened muscles at each moment of moving his legs, the range of motion increased to some extent.

“I’ll create lumbar flexion and correct the thoracic kyphosis too.”

Drops continued to his lower back and upper back.

Again, I delicately distributed energy for spinal alignment.

“Let’s have you lie on your back facing the ceiling.”

I went to the head area, loosened the shortened sternocleidomastoid muscle a bit, then corrected his forward head posture with a thrust.

I also needed to release the obliques and iliotibial band, but using the massage gun on the front of the body seemed like it would be too much impact, so I pressed by hand to relax the muscles.

After loosening the hypertense muscles to some extent and removing my hands.

“Whoa, ugh. I don’t know what that was, but it feels incredibly refreshing!”

Go Youngsik hastily gave a thumbs up.

I grinned.

“Now, we’re about halfway done.”

“Halfway?”

We’d already done legs, pelvis, lower back, upper back, neck, and abdomen?

Go Youngsik looked at me with confusion.

“Overtense muscles can be released with chiropractic manipulation, acupuncture, or physical therapy. But what should we do about weakened lower back muscles?”

The most important part remained.

“Strengthen them?”

As expected of an elite employee.

He got the right answer immediately.

“Yes, we need to strengthen them through exercise. Since we can’t reassemble spinal alignment like a robot, we have to gradually adjust it by conditioning the supporting muscles.”

“Exercise…”

“You don’t do any at all, do you?”

“Haha… I’m always so busy…”

Go Youngsik looked at me with slight anxiety.

Then he scratched his head and answered.

“Would building core muscles with planks work? Would about a minute daily be okay?”

Here he goes talking about one minute at home.

“Let’s see you get into position right now.”

I’ve never seen anyone who could actually do what they claim like this.

I immediately instructed Go Youngsik to get into plank position.

“Ugh, uhhhhh!”

Forget one minute – his body collapsed after just 20 seconds.

“Again.”

Go Youngsik looked at me with an aggrieved expression, but when I paid no attention, he got back into position.

“Didn’t I make it to a minute?”

“…You lasted 35 seconds. Again.”

The first attempt at least resembled a plank, but on the third try his butt shot way up.

“This way only your arms get sore and it’s not a core workout.”

“Grrrrrrgh!”

25 seconds, 20 seconds, a brief rest, then barely 40 seconds.

Could it really be this difficult?

Still, somehow combining everything, we managed to fill 2 minutes.

“Now let’s try lifting your upper body while keeping your legs together.”

I had him do a modified version of the so-called superman exercise that could build the erector spinae muscles while stretching the back.

“Huff, huff, huff…”

The actual exercise time combined was barely over 5 minutes.

Yet Go Youngsik was panting as if he’d climbed Hwasan Mountain carrying a thousand-pound weight.

“Now lie down.”

“There’s still more?”

Though I’d initially loosened his hamstrings with the massage gun, stretching was a separate matter.

I immediately lifted one of Go Youngsik’s legs straight up while he lay down.

“Ahhhhhhh!”

“The shortening is severe.”

He screamed at barely a 90-degree angle.

“Now we’re really almost done. This one isn’t difficult. Please sit up.”

Go Youngsik glared at me with distrustful eyes, but it was the truth.

This was easy even by the standards of someone who never exercised?

It was a comfortable stretch where you clasp your hands behind your back, extend them backward, and push your chest forward.

“So this straightens the hunched back. Ugh, it’s not easy.”

Just how long had he been in that rounded shoulder state?

His shoulders finally straightened when I had him breathe along with the stretching.

“This is the last one. Let’s clasp your hands above your head.”

Truly the final step – a thoracic thrust.

“Huff… huff…”

Normally chiropractic treatment takes 5 to at most 10 minutes.

Naturally focusing mainly on corrective techniques.

Since there isn’t enough time to teach each patient exercises, we have no choice but to just recommend reference videos.

‘Good thing he came after clinic hours.’

But Go Youngsik found the core exercises so difficult that it took nearly 20 minutes.

But it was rewarding.

“Now, try standing up straight.”

Go Youngsik, who was completely worn out, barely managed to stand up while gripping the chuna bed.

“…Huh?”

It wasn’t like before where he naturally stuck his belly out, his body leaned forward, and all his weight rested on his pelvis.

“I can feel strength in my lower back?”

He had finally learned how to use his back muscles.

Go Youngsik stood in place, firmly engaging his lower back, pushing out his chest and straightening his shoulders.

His neck naturally found its proper position as well.

“Good. Well done.”

I smiled brightly.

Ah, this is how you should stand to look dignified! I couldn’t have been more pleased.

Of course, if Go Youngsik went back to Seoul and didn’t receive treatment while neglecting exercise, it would be difficult to maintain.

But I absolutely couldn’t! I couldn’t let him leave with that swayback posture right in front of my eyes.

“You’ve worked hard. You can go now. Since you know how to engage your back muscles, pay attention when you’re standing and sitting too.”

“Ah… thank you. I came to scout someone and never expected to receive treatment as well.”

Go Youngsik bowed politely.

I liked his much straighter posture compared to when he first handed me his business card.

But strangely, his pupils were shaking.

I hadn’t tried to scare him, so why did he seem afraid of me?

“Are you finished now?”

“Gasp!”

Just then, Seol Yuhui opened the door and peeked her head in.

“You should have left first, were you waiting?”

“I should greet the director before leaving. It seems like you’re doing treatment too, so I need to handle reception and payment.”

“No. I forced this on you, so why would I take money?”

“I’ll definitely pay for the treatment! I didn’t even know I needed treatment, so I’m really grateful!”

I really had no intention of taking payment, and it was something I did to satisfy my sense of duty.

But Go Youngsik insisted on paying the treatment fee.

“Then I’ll accept it, but in return, you’ll continue receiving treatment consistently even after returning to Seoul?”

Hmm, from the patient’s perspective, creating sunk costs might be better for his back health too?

I secured a promise that he would continue treatment and exercise to maintain proper posture.

“Um, would it be okay if I came tomorrow too?”

He officially declared he would become my patient.

“Weren’t you returning to Seoul?”

“Haha, actually I extended my business trip thinking I’d try to persuade Ms. Yuhui for a few more days… I have some other matters to attend to as well.”

“In that case, of course, it would be good to continue treatment.”

I told him about my work schedule and relatively free times.

I also mentioned that unfortunately, I wouldn’t be able to supervise exercise sessions as long as today’s.

“That’s a relief… *ahem*, I’ll definitely do it at home.”

I recommended some exercise videos and sent Go Youngsik on his way.

Just watching his walking figure from behind was incredibly satisfying.

“Thank you for staying with me, Director. I was surprised when someone suddenly came to visit, but thanks to you being there, I was able to convey what I wanted to say well.”

“Don’t mention it.”

I quickly sent Seol Yuhui home too, since she had waited so late.

Ah, if she was going to wait anyway, should I have had her observe from the side?

Go Youngsik might have felt burdened by that though.

* * *

Go Youngsik, who had gone to do casting but ended up having his posture semi-forcibly corrected, opened his laptop as soon as he arrived at the hotel.

‘Whew… what kind of experience was that.’

The screen that hadn’t been properly shut down turned on.

It was exactly as he had left it this morning, while researching about Seol Yuhui.

He had been looking into whether the person from the traditional music video was doing any other activities, but had found absolutely nothing.

Seol Yuhui’s face had never appeared even once on the YouTube channel run by other staff at Seongsoo Oriental Medicine Clinic.

‘She really must hate exposing her personal information.’

He was quite confident in sales, but there was no way to handle cases like this.

Go Youngsik closed all the windows and entered a different name in the portal.

‘That person was the head director, right? Director Hanyewon.’

Unlike with Seol Yuhui, where no information could be found no matter how much he searched, the director had many mentions on the internet.

“Mancheonhwau… the Korean medicine doctor in that video was this person…?”

Really, absolutely.

Go Youngsik exclaimed out loud in shock.

Not only discovering new talent, but also developing the capabilities of cast trainees was part of his job.

Since monitoring after debut couldn’t be overlooked, he had no choice but to be close with the internet.

So naturally he knew about the meme of some Korean medicine doctor in Saudi Arabia who used Mantianhualuo to defeat 17 terrorists in a 1v17 fight.

“Ah… ah…”

So this person was that person.

No wonder he was so terrifyingly intense when making him exercise.

He knew it was just a meme, but for some reason his back straightened up with strength.

“Aha, there’s also content about treating the prince’s headaches. So that’s why he went to Saudi Arabia. Huh? There’s also a column written by a doctor… Hyeon Jumi also received treatment from this person…?”

Go Youngsik sat up straight and dug into traces of Director Hanyewon on the internet.

Every time he unconsciously tried to crane his neck forward, he heard phantom sounds.

– Again.

The more he searched, the more things kept coming up.

Even aside from the Mantianhualuo, it seemed he had received treatment from an incredibly remarkable person.

“He also treated a basketball player’s ACL?”

In the midst of this, Go Youngsik discovered a special interview in a newspaper.

A professional basketball player named Kim Ijin had cited ACL rupture as his most difficult injury, and it mentioned that Director Hanyewon had treated it.

Perhaps this became a connection, as there was also talk of him being the team doctor for Busan BUK.

“Then… could it be that Dohyun too?”

At the mention of ACL, one corner of Go Youngsik’s heart ached.

The first person he had discovered since starting this work.

The face of a trainee who had dreamed of being an idol more sincerely than anyone came to mind.

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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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