Did Somebody Call For an Herb Doctor?

In January 2006 (perhaps less than an hour into the new year), I hurt my hip in an unfortunate tobogganing accident. I was the only person injured during the event, made more bizarre by the fact I wasn't even in a toboggan at the time, and I've had some slight discomfort ever since. Multiple trips to the doctor with X-rays and many furrowed brows determined I was most likely suffering from bursitis, a swelling of the bursae sacs around my hip. Since the only problem was a little discomfort while sleeping, everyone said "let's see what happens." Here's what happened:

A few days ago, at Taekwondo (a whole blog unto itself), I was doing some stretching and ratcheted my hip awkwardly. It was bad enough that I told my school the next day I was going to Gwangju (nearby large city) to see an English speaking doctor. Instead, they directed me to the nearby "herb doctor", or practitioner or Chinese medicine. Well, Western medicine just told me to wait around the last time I was checked out, so why not give it a try I figured.

From what I can gather, the herb doctor's is a place you go for general body aches and pains, injuries, and anything that looks like it doesn't need surgery. I met with Jo Joon Boem's father (see my blog "My Dinner with Jo Joon Boem"), who checked my mobility, then I was off to the treatment room.

No one here could speak much English (the doctor knew some words), so the process of getting me prepped for deeper observation was a challenge. They had to get at my hip, so I was told to undo my pants. Makes sense, but in my mind, that meant take them right off. So that's what I did, right there in front of the nurse, who gave a good loud scream and ran into the back room. I had underwear on, but it didn't seem to be enough to calm her down, so I wrapped a towel around myself, shouted some "I'm sorry"s over the curtain, and got back down on the table.

A few pin pricks later, it was determined I had some "bad blood" in the area, and that it was best to have it removed. They stuck some acupuncture pins into my hip and buttocks and after a few minutes at rest, attached some electrodes to the pins. So began my "shock therapy", as minor jolts were sent through my lower body. After this, I had electric massage paddles placed on me, and was given a lengthy electric massage. Finally, they came back to draw out my bad blood.

A suction cup was placed over the area to draw out the blood. The pressure pulls much of the blood to the surface for the later sucking process. After the cup is removed, a big hand "wacker" that looks something between a ear-piercing gun and a stapler that lost its base is used to plunk some holes in your skin. Then the suction cup is thrown back on again (it's like a tall, skinny tea cup) and it sucks all the blood out of these holes in your body. They then finish it off with an ultrasound, and send you on your way.

Did it work? Well, I'm not sure yet. I've got some slight bruising and soreness from the blood sucking/suction cupping, and I went back a second time to get it redone because they missed the right spot the first time (even the second was still slightly off target). However, I'm less swollen now than I've been since the injury, and the new pain I had from Taekwondo is all gone. I'll have to get back to everyone in a week or two and see how it goes; for now I'm not sold on the idea of TCM (traditional Chinese medicine), but if I get even a little better, maybe it's worth it.