The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 46

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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 46

Park Seon-yun and Kim Jinsang entered the examination room side by side.

Unlike Kim Jinsang who looked somewhat rough, Park Seon-yun had a neat appearance with his hair parted 2:8 and wearing glasses.

Though it could have looked old-fashioned, perhaps because of his bright face or his high-quality suit, he gave off an elegant impression instead.

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Park Seon-yun. Please sit over here.”

“Hello.”

Park Seon-yun politely bowed his waist before sitting in the chair next to the desk that I had indicated.

Unlike him who was only wearing a faint smile, Kim Jinsang sat on the sofa prepared for guardians and immediately opened his mouth.

“Ah, Clinic Director. It’s been a while. This is the young master I serve. He injured his back two weeks ago and it hasn’t healed, so I brought him here.”

Kim Jinsang’s shoulders straightened with pride at the part where he said “young master” he serves.

Sigh, my disciples acted exactly like that when they tried to show off using mine or Master’s reputation. Anyway, this “young master” seemed to be quite an important person. I hadn’t even seen Hwangseoyeong or Hwang Sanghun travel with personal drivers, so was he really from a chaebol family?

“How did you get injured? Did you twist it?”

I asked Park Seon-yun. He touched his right lower back and gave a bitter smile.

“I fell from a high place.”

“Pardon? How high?”

It was an unexpected answer. He looked like a white-collar office worker to anyone. What reason would he have to climb up high?

“It wasn’t very high, just a ladder about half my height. I was taking out a book from the study when I slipped.”

“Ah.”

Park Seon-yun said this while slightly blushing. Even grown adults can misstep. What’s there to be embarrassed about?

Rather, I was curious that he had a study with shelves high enough to require climbing a ladder.

“Since it’s been two weeks, have you tried other treatments in the meantime?”

“Yes. I received daily physical therapy at the company hospital. The X-ray showed no problems with the bones, but since there was no improvement at all, the doctor wrote a referral for an MRI. But Driver Kim said he knew a good Oriental Medicine Clinic, so I came here first.”

“You made the right choice coming here.”

I had Park Seon-yun stand up and examined his back.

“Please bend your back backward, and then forward.”

“Ugh… it hurts a little when I bend forward.”

“Please point to where it hurts.”

Fortunately, there were no major problems with his lumbar range of motion.

The spot Park Seon-yun pointed to was near the PSIS (Posterior Superior Iliac Spine) where the bone protrudes from the right pelvis.

“Could you lie face down? I’ll press on your spine first.”

“Ah, yes. That’s fine.”

“How does this feel?”

“A little…”

“How about here?”

“Ah!”

The moment slight pressure was applied to the medial side of the PSIS, Park Seon-yun let out a groan. As I had expected when I first touched his sacrum, it was a problem with the sacroiliac joint ligament.

I brought up a screen on the computer showing the sacroiliac joint and the ligaments connecting it.

“Here, this inverted triangular bone below the lumbar spine is the sacrum. Sticky ligaments connect the sacrum to the ilium that forms the pelvis. Based on the tender point, I estimate the problem this time is with the posterior sacroiliac ligament.”

“Ah, yes.”

“When you received external impact from falling from a high place, the ligament here would have stretched causing inflammation, and there was probably some partial tearing involved. The MRI will probably show the same thing.”

Park Seon-yun touched his own sacrum and nodded.

“Yes, around here.”

“Since the buttock muscles are thick, physical therapy doesn’t stimulate them well. I’ll use long needles to go directly to the ligament and induce recovery. I also need to treat the surrounding swollen or stiffened muscles.”

“Ah…”

“It shouldn’t be too painful. Do you have any questions?”

“Driver Kim said he had bee venom acupuncture and it was very good. Will I receive that treatment too?”

“If you want faster recovery, it’s not a bad choice. But if you want something more than regular acupuncture for your current situation, I’d recommend fire acupuncture as the best choice.”

“You set it on fire?”

Park Seon-yun asked with wide eyes.

“I insert the needle first, then light the fire. It’s very good for acute stretched conditions.”

“…It must be hot, right?”

“It needs to be somewhat hot to provide stimulation. I remove it before it gets excessively hot, so there’s not much worry about burns.”

It’s not that painful, but he seemed very scared as his eyes shook left and right.

“If the procedure feels burdensome, let’s start with low-stimulation repeated treatment using regular acupuncture. If you hadn’t gotten better even after injections, I would have recommended fire acupuncture from the start, but since no treatment has been done on the ligament itself, it’s like nothing has been tried. If acupuncture doesn’t work well, we’ll consider other methods.”

“Acupuncture doesn’t hurt, does it?”

“Is this your first time?”

“I think I had acupuncture for growing pains when I was young, but I don’t remember well.”

Park Seon-yun looked down and scratched his head. He didn’t need to be embarrassed about it, but I could tell he really hated pain.

Unlike elderly patients who request about 100 needles, most young patients want minimal stimulation treatment that doesn’t hurt, so it wasn’t surprising.

“I’ll be careful to make sure it doesn’t hurt.”

“Yes. Please take good care of me.”

“Please take really good care of our young master!”

I nodded to Park Seon-yun who was smiling brightly, then spoke to Kim Jinsang.

“How’s your arm, Mr. Kim Jinsang? It’s been a while since you came.”

“Ah, I’m almost completely healed. The occasional tingling is gone too.”

“That’s good to hear.”

Kim Jinsang rolled up his sleeve to his shoulder and showed it to me.

The blotchy blisters that were visible to the naked eye had completely disappeared, and he said the pain was gone too.

“I came along when the young master was visiting, haha. Since I’ve been driving, my back is a bit stiff. Could I get treatment for my back today?”

“Of course. Please do.”

He had made such a fuss back then, but he recovered faster than expected. It was fortunate for our staff as well.

I sent the two people to the treatment room and briefly organized the examination notes.

A little later, while the two were receiving physical therapy, I saw a few other patients and then went to Park Seon-yun.

Carrying a 12cm long needle that I hadn’t used in quite a while.

‘He won’t say this hurts too, will he?’

To properly loosen the sacroiliac joint, I needed to go this deep, but showing him the needle might scare him.

Sure enough, the moment I opened the curtain and entered, Park Seon-yun flinched while lying face down.

“Please pull your pants down a little more.”

“Yes…”

I pressed the area where Park Seon-yun had complained of pain earlier.

“This is where it hurts the most, right?”

“Yes, yes.”

Since blood stasis was severely clumped and energy was also stagnant, it wasn’t difficult to locate again.

I inserted the needle right against the PSIS toward the posterior sacroiliac ligament.

I felt the sticky sensation characteristic of severely inflamed ligaments.

“Haa…!”

“Does it hurt?”

“No, no. It feels refreshing. I just made a sound like an old man.”

I chuckled softly and pulled out and inserted the needle. Every time I poked the sticky spots, he squeezed his eyes shut.

Please bear with the pain a little. The adhered soft tissue needs to be torn like this and blood flow improved for recovery.

“Ah!”

When I broke through the stickiest spot, his voice tone changed. As his pelvis loosened somewhat, he let out pleasant moaning sounds with a dazed expression.

I then pressed around the surrounding gluteal muscles, stimulating the tense points.

“Mm…!”

Poke. Poke. Poke.

“Hah!”

Poke. Poke. Poke. Swoosh!

“Ah… it feels so refreshing. Ugh, sorry.”

Park Seon-yun turned his head the other way and almost sobbed. He was trying to hide his face that had turned beet red. I couldn’t tell if he disliked or liked the pain.

Anyway, since I had promised to treat him with the minimum number of needles, I finished the acupuncture.

“Good work. We’re done. Just lie here and rest for a moment.”

“Yes! Thank you.”

Since he felt this much relief, there was nothing to worry about. It would be sufficiently effective even without using fire needles or bee venom acupuncture.

I briefly held the hand of Park Seon-yun, who had collapsed with his energy drained, to help him recover, then moved to Kim Jinsang.

* * *

Park Seon-yun, who had entered the Oriental Medicine Clinic hunched over, walked out of the treatment room with his back straight.

He had been sensitive since childhood and couldn’t tolerate pain well.

Even when coming for acupuncture on Kim Jinsang’s advice, he had many worries, but far from being painful, the needling was unbelievably refreshing.

Moreover, since the treatment effects appeared immediately, he regretted not coming sooner.

‘So this is what grandfather meant by refreshing.’

His grandfather would not only shout “refreshing!” when entering hot water, but also say that he needed acupuncture once a week to feel comfortable.

He couldn’t understand what was so good about being poked with needles, but didn’t it feel like his body had been almost completely reassembled?

From the moment he stepped down, his back was surprisingly comfortable.

His tailbone wasn’t 100% healed yet, but the catching sensation when walking had reduced to less than half.

At the desk, Kim Jinsang, who had changed clothes and come out first, was paying.

The staff returned his card while handing him a medicine packet.

“The Clinic Director prescribed 3 packets of medicine. Take it twice today, once tomorrow morning, then come for treatment.”

As if he had received it before, Kim Jinsang immediately tore one open and drank it.

But Park Seon-yun was curious and asked the staff.

“Ah, yes. What kind of medicine is it?”

“It’s medicine to relax muscles.”

It wasn’t the packaging format made in pharmaceutical company factories. It seemed to have been brewed inside the clinic.

“What’s in it?”

Just in case, he looked at the front and back of the packet, but the composition wasn’t written anywhere.

“Um… would you like to ask the Clinic Director? Please wait a moment and I’ll escort you back to the examination room.”

It seemed the staff didn’t know.

Though he was curious, since it might be a secret, Park Seon-yun waved his hand, having no intention of prying.

Click.

But as if his question had been heard from inside the examination room, the Clinic Director immediately opened the door and came out to answer.

“It’s Shakuyaku-kanzo-to. 16g of peony and 8g of licorice per packet, brewed together. Peony helps a lot with muscle relaxation and inflammation recovery.”

“Ah, I see.”

Though he recited the composition ‘readily’ enough, the Clinic Director’s eyes looking back and forth between them didn’t seem very kind.

Had he aroused suspicion? Park Seon-yun was very flustered and took out his business card from his bag.

“I apologize if that was an inappropriate question. I absolutely had no intention of criticizing or any other ulterior motive. Since I work at a pharmaceutical company, I was personally curious.”

“Of course you could be curious. I wasn’t worried about that. It’s just… never mind.”

The director glanced sideways at Kim Jinsang as he received Park Seon-yun’s business card.

“Oh?”

Then, just like everyone else who had seen his business card before, the director’s expression changed after checking the title.

[PK Biologics Director Park Seon-yun]

Park Seon-yun scratched his head sheepishly and bowed briefly.

“Thanks to you, something I’ve been suffering from for a long time has improved remarkably. Let’s have a meal together sometime.”

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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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