Acupuncture!

I have had problems with my right hip and have been going to physical therapy for several months. I learned that my hip problem is really a back problem. The issue is that my back muscles are turning into blobs....basically I need to exercise some obscure muscles in my back which are connected to my hip and causing me pain. Anyway, the PT seems to be helping.........

But I was told that there was a good traditional Korean medicine clinic near campus. So, being somewhat curious about "traditional medicine" I visited the clinic today and experienced ....ummm....well, lots of interesting things.



This is the sign outside the clinic. It was on the second and third floors. Once inside--of course no one spoke English--so it was a bit of a challenge to figure out what the heck was going on. Once they figured out I wanted treatment, I had a short consultation with the doctor. He had a diagram of a body and I pointed at the spots causing me problems. He spent a great deal of time feeling my pulse and squeezing and looking at my finger tips and finger nails...not sure what that was about.

Next I was give some wonderful pajamas....and put them on and then sat in a waiting room with lots of other men and women. After about 15 minutes I was led back to a room and laid down on a table. A lady came in a wrapped a hot pad around my hips and back and put a heat lamp on my feet. I wondered why my feet...but soon was to find out why. After about 10 minutes, the doctor came in with a handful of really long needles which he proceeded to stick in my hands, head and lots of them in my toes. I think the heat lamp was to get the feet warm and the blood flowing in them. Some of the sticks were painless...and others REALLY hurt. He told me to sleep...which I did for about 20 minutes. A lady came in and removed the needles and wiped my arms and feet down with a nice warm cloth.

Next, a guy came in with a handful of "cups". He stuck them on my lower back and then put on a plunger thing that sucked the air out of the cups and basically sucked my skin up into the cup. This picture is the result of that part of the treatment. Pretty cool, huh?





After the suction cups were removed, I walked up to the second floor and got on another table that had a long set of leg booties that were placed on your feet and legs and zipped up. Basically my legs were encased from upper thigh downward in this big bootie thing. She attached some cords, set the timer and it began to inflate and move! It was like a huge massager that rolled and kneeded your feet and legs. It felt great!

After the leg massage, I was led into another table area and had to take off the top of my pjs and lie on my stomach. The lady attached more suction cups. She also had a cell phone with a Korean - English translation program and she showed it to me and she had typed in Physiotherapy. So --the suction cups were physio-therapy. Well, she turned on the electricity to the cups and I realized that is was like a tensor machine that sends electric pulses to the muscles. She kept turning it up until I screamed...and that I guess was the base point. She left...and the cups sprung into life. They were pulsing and digging and pinching. It felt like I had an alien on my back. I even looked to make sure those cups were not morphing into something else. Anyway...the electric pulses made my arm muscles twitch like crazy. Amazing to see your arms moving when you aren't doing anything!!!

So...after that procedure I thought I was done...but noooooo. Not yet. The final step was a very vigorous back and head massage. It was pretty painful and felt like the Thai massage I have had before. She even crawled on the table and dug her elbows and her knees into my back and butt. Geez......it was ah....interesting!

Well...that was the end of my "treatment". I dressed and paid my 20,000 won and stumbled onto the street. I was there for two hours!!!! So...now the question is whether it helped. I am going hiking in the mountains tomorrow -- probably a good test for my back and hip.

Anyway.....just another interesting experience in Korea.