Chapter 146
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 146
Chapter Title: Stubborn Shoulders
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"Experience, I suppose."
It wasn't anything all that surprising.
When you do this job long enough, you start figuring out what's wrong just by looking at how patients walk into the exam room.
"Most cases of a 'pulled back' are actually a quadratus lumborum strain. It attaches down to the iliac crest you're pressing on and up to the twelfth rib, so deep breaths or coughing make it hurt."
"Ah..."
I had Jin Minjeong lie face down and checked from her glutes up through her erector spinae and quadratus lumborum.
"Does it hurt here?"
"Ugh, yes!"
"We can treat right at the tender spot. Normally, you'd want bed rest for three or four days with repeated sessions, but since you have to work tomorrow, I'll do my best to loosen it up as much as possible."
"Oh man, sorry and thank you."
"No worries. It happens when you're all pumped up during a workout. Head to the treatment room and lie on your side."
I checked the chart for waiting patients. The follow-ups were all doing moxibustion or physical therapy first.
Acupuncture right away would be best.
"Lie on your side and stretch your arm up overhead. Make sure your back is exposed."
"Like this?"
This position exposes the quadratus lumborum the best.
For general lower back issues, I'd treat prone, but since the target area was clear, I had her on her side.
"This'll be a longer needle."
Focusing my energy, I sensed the stagnation from the strain was a bit deep.
I took out a long needle and slowly probed the muscle from the iliac crest.
"You'll feel a throbbing sensation."
"Whew, okay."
She didn't have much acupuncture experience, but enough to relax comfortably.
Shunk. Shunk.
I lifted and thrust the long needle into the precise spot several times.
"All done. Get up and let's check your back."
I helped her sit up right away.
"Not too fast—slowly."
"Okay... Huh?"
She slipped on her sandals and paced beside the bed.
"I could barely walk straight before, but now it's fine!"
The stabbing pain that had her hunched over was gone.
"Perfect. It should heal smoothly now. We've fixed the main issue, so do physical therapy to loosen the muscles, then cupping to draw out the blood before you go."
"Thank you!"
Jin Minjeong let out a huge sigh of relief.
She must have been worried sick about tomorrow.
"It's really better already?"
"Yeah. Standing here balancing, the strength in my back feels totally different."
"Wow, the director really is a miracle worker..."
I overheard her chatting with Seol Yuhee, who was prepping physical therapy for her back.
Good grief, it's nothing special!
I hurried back to the exam room and shut the door.
Jin Minjeong, who got acupuncture early that morning, headed home.
Normally, she'd tackle the laundry backlog, clean, grocery shop for the week, cook dinner, and then flop on the sofa.
"Eh, just rest today."
She went straight to bed.
No sense overdoing it and messing up work tomorrow.
That morning, when she got out of bed and planted her feet, the shock to her back had her thinking it was serious.
One needle had nearly wiped out the pain—it was so miraculous she almost wanted to test it with a walk.
But she held back and texted her husband.
Let's just order in tonight.
"Honey, how's your back?"
Why did lounging around fly by so fast?
It didn't feel like much time had passed when her husband and kids came home with the pizza they'd been craving.
"You got takeout?!"
"Yeah, the place was right by Jihun's taekwondo dojo."
"Thanks, you worked hard."
"No biggie. Your back...?"
"Just in case, I've been resting, but it's pretty much better."
Her husband, Oh Junseok, relaxed completely seeing her walk out for pizza without issue.
He'd feared she'd be sidelined for days.
"Better in just one day?"
"Our director's an absolute genius."
It wasn't her treatment, but Jin Minjeong puffed up with pride anyway.
Patients leaving thank-you gifts at the desk made her feel good too, and proud.
She never missed recommending their clinic to anyone complaining of pain at the salon or PTA meetings.
"Do you treat a lot of stiff shoulder patients too?"
Her husband asking that, though?
"Of course tons! Why, honey, is your shoulder stiff?"
"Nah, mine's fine since that back thing cleared up. But there's this guy at our community center who pounds his shoulders constantly."
Jin Minjeong raised her voice without realizing.
"If someone's like that, tell them to come right away!"
"Uh, y-yeah. I'll mention it tomorrow. He does it every ten minutes. Even got complaints."
Oh Junseok answered, a bit flustered.
Only then did she notice her volume and calm down.
"Complaints that bad?"
"The guy's who filed them is a nut, but yeah, it's pretty extreme."
Kim Hye-young was hard at work again today.
"Hello~!"
"Can I get a registered seal certificate?"
"Sure~ May I see your ID?"
As a civil servant paid by taxpayers, she responded diligently and politely to every request.
"It's not registered. New registration? May I have the seal?"
"Seal? I didn't bring it."
"...Have you registered before? You stamp and fingerprint it."
"No, first time I need it."
But sometimes the anger just boiled over.
"Without the seal, I can't register or issue the certificate. Please bring your ID and seal next time."
"If I go home now, it'll be closing time. I'll bring it tomorrow, so issue it now."
"How can I issue it without registration?"
"Just do it first! Register later!"
"Without registration, how—?!"
"Are you a robot? Why repeat yourself?!"
This jerk showed up every other day.
Making absurd demands first! Did he even know he was being unreasonable?
"What's your name and position? Getting paid by my taxes to get mad? I'll file a complaint!"
"You little...!"
"Hey, hold it together!"
Kim Hye-young was working hard today.
Hard, so hard...
"Argh! Am I so mad my shoulder hurts more?!"
The second her shift ended, she bolted from her station faster than anyone.
Her shoulders already felt like lead, and the stress was driving her insane.
"Junior's turn today, huh. Tough, right?"
Her friendly senior approached and kneaded her shoulders.
Weirdos popped up endlessly, and someone always drew the short straw, so all her colleagues shot her sympathetic looks.
"Ughhh!"
"How is it this rock-hard? It's amazing every time I touch it."
"Haha, Senior, it's okay—you don't have to."
"Nah, it's no trouble. My grip's strong, but this won't budge. The clothes? Try taking off the cardigan."
She knew it was kind intent, but Kim Hye-young waved her off.
"Not hot? Busy days like this get toasty."
Of course it was hot.
26 degrees with AC at home was perfect.
But crowds or rage from jerks like that last one made her burn up.
"I don't overheat much."
Still, she kept the cardigan on.
She had a complex about her raised shoulders.
High school? She noticed during a group photo.
Everyone in tank tops, but hers made her trapezius pop hugely.
College was milder, but civil service stress knotted it again.
She thought passing would fix it, but work stress was worse.
Rage multiple times a day, shoulders tensing.
Who cares about that?
Friends and boyfriend all said so, but it bugged her anyway.
She'd even tried Botox.
"Ugh."
At a loss for words, Kim Hye-young just thumped her shoulders.
When's the team leader getting up? Wanna leave already.
Right on cue, Team Leader Oh Junseok stood.
Exactly two minutes past quitting time.
"Shoulders not loosening?"
"Oh, yeah..."
Had she been too loud?
He approached her about shoulder pain.
"My wife's at a Korean medicine clinic—they're great. Fixed her back sprain the other day. You should try it."
"A clinic?"
Never crossed her mind.
She'd just thump them, stretch, or get massages when bad.
Massages helped a day or two, but daily? No way.
"Doesn't acupuncture hurt?"
Today was one of those brutally painful days.
She'd planned to beg her boyfriend for a rubdown, but a clinic detour might work.
He was getting annoyed at her constant requests anyway.
"Getting stabbed with needles..."
"Eek."
"Can't say zero pain, but they do it painlessly. Better than constant ache, right?"
True.
If it loosened, a few pokes were fine.
Massages hurt plenty too.
"Where is it?"
Conveniently, not far.
Kim Hye-young texted her boyfriend to push their date.
[Oppa, not off yet? Okay if I hit a clinic first?]
[Yeah... Was gonna say overtime sharpens my mood anyway...]
Lucky or not, her busy boyfriend agreed easily.
She raced to the clinic.
"Hello, Doctor."
The woman entered the exam room with steely resolve.
First-timer? She looked super tense, like she'd psyched herself up big-time.
"My shoulders hurt too much."
Patient: Kim Hye-young, 29. Shoulder pain.
Referred by: Oh Junseok... Jin Minjeong's husband, right?
I gauged the issue from her pre-exam notes and the way she raised her tensed shoulders.
"Can you point to where it hurts?"
Location first.
"Shoulder" often means glenohumeral joint strictly, but upper trapezius is neck. I mix terms too.
As expected, she pointed to upper trapezius.
Muscle issue—way easier than joint.
"Your trapezius is the culprit. How long?"
Posture suggested chronic.
"About twelve years?"
Longer than expected.
"High school onward, always bad. Sitting long with stress, I think."
Kim Hye-young crossed her arms in an X, hugging her shoulders.
"Classic office woe. Nobody sits perfectly, and even good posture stiffens if held."
"Yeah. Try to, but tough."
"Relax consciously. If perfect posture's hard, raise the chair and let arms dangle comfortably. Low chairs force shoulders up, constant tension."
"Ah, okay."
Posture was long-term; loosening knots now mattered.
I checked range of motion, then stood to press her shoulders from behind for pain intensity.
"Looks like trapezius main issue. Let me feel."
"Wait!"
Kim Hye-young flinched, palms out.
"Yes?"
Just a standard exam—something wrong?
Can't touch if refused, so I waited.
"Whew..."
She deep-breathed, steeling herself.
And began unbuttoning her cardigan one by one.
"It's so tight... it sticks out like this..."
Her voice as she shrugged it off was downright mournful.
"Can this even heal?"