The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 326

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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 326

What mind reading? This much is obvious at a glance.

Ordinary spectators wouldn’t notice since they don’t pay attention to footwork, but they can’t fool my eyes.

I had been curious about that player’s foot condition even during the match.

I wanted to diagnose whether his foot was actually injured, or if he was avoiding certain angles because his ankle or knee hurt when impacted.

But the American National Team must have their own Team Doctor, and they wouldn’t have let him play unless they judged he was fit to compete, right? It wouldn’t be right to overstep my bounds.

“But can that player come out? Shouldn’t he stay with the team?”

“The atmosphere must be like a funeral home after losing in the finals! When I told him I was with the Clinic Director, he said he wanted to come right away!”

Oh right, today’s match was the finals, wasn’t it?

Our team players were strictly monitored even for outside food, worried that eating something wrong could cause big trouble. Going out was naturally forbidden.

But apparently once all the matches were over, they could move around relatively freely.

“There’s no reason he can’t.”

Since I was curious anyway, I readily agreed to let him join us.

Since Sasha Rian and I hadn’t come very far from the Athletes’ Village to begin with, Gilbert arrived at the restaurant in less than 30 minutes.

“Gilbert, over here!”

Sasha waved her hand.

“Wow, nice to meet you!”

“Nice to meet you for the first time, I enjoyed watching the match.”

We exchanged greetings.

When I offered condolences about the match result, Gilbert shrugged with a bitter expression.

“Haha, I gave it my all so I have no regrets.”

He shook his head with a gesture like some American game, then smiled broadly again and offered a handshake.

“I was surprised when Sasha said she became friends with an Oriental druid Doctor, but I didn’t expect you’d come watch my match together.”

“…Druid? Ah, you’re talking about Cheongsori and Songgol.”

She gets excited every time the Falcon comes up, and she even told her ex-Boyfriend about it.

Since Gilbert said he originally liked birds, we bonded a bit by watching Songgol’s vertical dive videos together.

“But what’s wrong with your foot? From how you were running earlier, it seemed like it was the sole area. Am I right?”

“Oh, you noticed that? That’s right. Hmm… it’s a bit awkward to take off my socks in a restaurant.”

Gilbert was troubled, but since the original purpose was medical examination, he eventually took off his socks.

The spot he pointed to was the sole, as I had expected.

It was on his right foot at the height of the forefoot, horizontally located around between the third and fourth metatarsals.

“It looks fine from the outside. It’s mild plantar fasciitis, but it was particularly bothersome today. It was slightly annoying during the match, and it hurt more after it ended.”

“Plantar fasciitis? Since when has it been hurting in this location?”

After confirming the location, I first checked when the symptoms started.

But for some reason, as soon as he heard the question, Gilbert’s shoulders trembled.

“Oh, sorry. Excuse me. Our Team Doctor asks that question so frequently.”

“Come to think of it, you have a Team Doctor, right? How did you end up coming to me?”

Didn’t the painkillers work well? When I tilted my head, Gilbert sighed.

“He kept asking so persistently if I had any discomfort, so I mentioned that I sometimes had pain in my sole. But didn’t he react too sensitively? He told the Director and made me rest while adjusting my training volume.”

Huh? Don’t tell me he fought with the Team Doctor?

“No, I know your personality is prickly, but how could you fight with a Doctor?”

Sasha said exactly what I wanted to say.

“What I need is a Doctor who lets me compete, not someone who keeps preventing me from playing.”

His words sound cool, but….

From my perspective, I could empathize much more with that Team Doctor’s position.

With the Olympics approaching, the symptoms could worsen, so wouldn’t he inevitably be sensitive about it?

“I understand your frustration. But that Doctor probably intended to let you compete in important matches too. Fortunately, it didn’t affect your performance today, but you don’t know what might happen next time. Sometimes it’s necessary to stop when you should stop.”

Momentarily, bad memories surfaced and my emotions flared up.

Those Martial Artists I met in the Martial Arts World who stubbornly wouldn’t listen to physicians.

If a child from the Tang Family had spouted such words before a martial arts tournament? I would have strung them up immediately.

Since he wasn’t my Patient, I just tried to persuade him nicely.

“That may be true, but….”

Instead of arguing back and forth, I immediately started palpation.

From what I could see, this wasn’t plantar fasciitis.

“Does it hurt when I press here?”

I pressed the area where the plantar fascia attaches to the heel and the hollow arch, but there was no particular reaction.

“Before, when I was running, I sometimes felt a tearing sensation in that area. These past few days, it’s not there but severe in this front part.”

So when I palpated the forefoot area Gilbert pointed to.

“Argh!”

A scream loud enough to make other Restaurant customers turn around burst out.

“Does it hurt? Is it sharp?”

“Bo, both.”

“How about this?”

Next, instead of the sole, I applied pressure with a feeling of narrowing the inside and outside of the ball of the foot.

“Even when you press like this, my sole hurts.”

As expected, Gilbert complained of pain.

This was certain enough.

“This is Morton’s neuroma. It’s a separate condition from plantar fasciitis.”

“What?”

“You’re saying a tumor grew on the nerve?”

Gilbert was horrified, and Sasha, who had been grinning the whole time, also asked back in shock.

“It’s similar. Plantar fasciitis is literally inflammation of the fascia under the sole, and this is… a neuroma where the nerve between the toes becomes thickened from repeated irritation.”

The pain area for plantar fasciitis is in the middle of the sole or toward the heel.

Symptoms in the forefoot area, though there are exceptions, were likely to be Morton’s neuroma.

“Have you felt any foreign sensation between your toes? People often describe it as feeling like something is stuck there.”

“Now that you mention it, yes! I just thought something unknown was bothering me!”

Gilbert grimaced.

Since he already knew about plantar fasciitis and Morton’s neuroma was located closer to the sole than the top of the foot, he seemed unable to think of other possibilities.

He spoke very gloomily.

“Did this happen because I ignored the doctor’s advice to rest and kept running?”

That was unknowable.

Things in the world, especially human health, don’t have such clear-cut cause-and-effect relationships.

“It’s possible. When weight distribution gets disrupted due to plantar fasciitis, compensatory overload can occur on the forefoot.”

Well, it’s just a possibility after all.

“Oh, Lord… this… I thought it would be nothing serious… Good heavens!”

Gilbert groaned in anguish, and Sasha clicked her tongue.

“You said the nerve has thickened. So it can’t be cured with just one acupuncture session after all…”

Gilbert looked at me with a pleading expression.

But he already knew the answer.

How could structural deformation be treated with just one acupuncture session?

“It’s difficult. Since it got worse over a long period, treatment also requires consistent management.”

Gilbert despaired.

“Is the pain very severe right now?”

“Yesterday, no, even until this morning it was really fine. But after today’s match ended, the pain suddenly exploded.”

So it’s severe now.

I could roughly picture the situation.

It hurt like hell, but it would be awkward to go find the team doctor he had fought with extensively.

With the bad atmosphere from losing, it would also be uncomfortable to reveal that his foot had actually been hurting.

“I’ll treat it first to make it not hurt right away. If you weren’t an athlete, just changing shoes and avoiding irritation would be fine, you know? But since you have to keep running, Gilbert.”

“Yes.”

“You need to continue treatment to reduce inflammation around the nerve, and adjustments to your training methods may be necessary based on your doctor and trainer’s judgment.”

“Yes…”

“Apologize sincerely and ask them to manage it. The teacher will understand an athlete’s feelings.”

Of course, don’t they know how desperate you are for the Olympic games?

If you honestly say you’ll run even if it hurts during really important matches, but just ask them to help you perform at your best in those moments, they’ll all consider the situation.

“I’ll do that. I was wrong.”

Maybe because the finals were already over and a condition Gilbert hadn’t suspected was discovered.

He reflected obediently.

“I don’t carry syringes around with me, so I’ll just do acupuncture treatment.”

Pharmacopuncture would be better, but unfortunately I hadn’t carried syringes and pharmacopuncture solution while coming out to have fun with Sasha Rian.

“You don’t have a syringe?”

But strangely, Sasha Rian was startled.

“I didn’t know I’d end up treating someone, right?”

“Oh, um. That’s right. But at the villa, um… never mind.”

What? Everyone saw me procure the jujubes on site.

Sasha’s question was hard to understand, but Gilbert with his eyes tightly shut came first.

“It’ll hurt a little.”

I gave a light warning then inserted the needle into the neuroma area.

“Keu, keuooooh!”

“Clinic Director, did you deliberately make it hurt?”

“The sole originally hurts. Sasha, want to try it too?”

“Ugh, I’ll pass.”

After finishing such a comfortable treatment.

“Go tell them right now. If conservative treatment doesn’t work, you’ll eventually need surgery.”

I gave final advice while instilling a fear that wasn’t quite fear.

“Thank you for taking care of it. I almost would have left it untreated until then.”

And so I successfully resolved even the American athlete’s foot pain.

After completing the rewarding treatment, I returned to the Athletes’ Village.

* * *

The women’s basketball games continued with quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals scheduled two days apart.

The quarterfinal opponent was Japan.

They were supposedly a strong team that boasted practical tactics and stable defensive power.

“Since many professional teams have sister relationships, we’ve faced them quite often.”

In the domestic league, our country’s professional teams competed while hiding their strategies from each other, so it seemed they held practice games with nearby Japan.

As such, while some players felt comfortable facing Japan, there were also players who burned with determination to defeat Japan at all costs.

“They probably analyzed Lee Jini’s gameplay footage thoroughly.”

Japan was originally a team that researched intensively and devised strategies.

Indeed, throughout the entire game, they struggled desperately to stop our ace.

But it wasn’t enough to defeat the Korean National Team.

“There was too much interference with my movements.”

Kim Ijin only left the impression that it was somewhat uncomfortable.

“She’s grown even more than during the preliminaries…!”

The Japanese Team Captain was right.

The Kim Ijin they had analyzed was different from the current Kim Ijin.

Isn’t it natural for a martial artist to gain enlightenment in actual combat and transcend their level?

When a martial arts tournament begins, it’s only natural to grow at least three times.

And so we advanced to the semifinals.

Our semifinal opponent was France once again.

They had advanced to the main tournament as second place in Group A and defeated Nigeria in the quarterfinals.

“This time we’ll definitely win…!”

The friend who used to have a foul mouth tried to vow revenge with very pretty speech, but.

“The game became much easier instead.”

She couldn’t keep up with Kim Ijin.

When we came to our senses, we had advanced to the finals in one go. Before we knew it, a silver medal or better was guaranteed.

‘Wow… I vaguely thought we might win a medal, but watching from the sidelines makes my heart race.’

Only one game remaining.

The Olympic finals. Just one more victory and we’d be world champions.

Even though I wasn’t the one playing, I felt excited and my heart swelled with emotion.

“Let’s get a good night’s sleep today and fight on tomorrow too!”

“Yes! Thanks to you, Clinic Director, we’re fighting in peak condition every time!”

The day before the finals.

The players did light training to loosen up and relieve tension.

They also held brief strategy meetings, but basically took sufficient rest and did their best to manage their individual conditions.

I too spent a busy day monitoring the players for any abnormal signs and responding to consultation requests.

After finishing all the schedules like that.

I finally fell asleep only after taking advantage of a brief moment alone to do some short breathing exercises.

“…”

Knock knock.

“…?”

Knock knock knock.

Someone was knocking on my door.

I bolted upright and checked my phone – it was 2 AM.

“What’s wrong?”

Was there some kind of emergency? When I opened the door wide.

Myeong Seonju was standing there clutching her chest.

Her pupils were shaking back and forth, and I could see traces of cold sweat on her forehead.

“I’m sorry for disturbing your sleep. I couldn’t fall asleep at all, so I came to see you…”

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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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