Needles, Cups and Awesome Oriental Medicine

I <3 Buhang!

With speaking tests finished and a lot more time on my hands, I decided it was time to get serious about rehabbing my calf muscle if I want to play rugby again in the Spring. My friend Tomi set me up with a small Oriental medicine clinic in Seokgye, so I figured it was worth a try.

They didn't speak much English, but it was easy to get by on basic Korean with a lot of smiling and pointing. I pointed at my calf muscle and ripped a piece of paper, the nurse winced, but definitely understood what was wrong. She sent me in the back room to speak with their resident accupuncturist. He prodded at my calves, nodded a few times, shook his head, smiled and sent me back to the lobby.

A few moments later, they called me into a back room which smelled like Patchouli and green tea. They asked me to remove all of my clothes and handed me a tiny pair of shorts, barely big enough to fit even one of my butt cheeks. I laid down on the table as they brought me 4 hot packs and placed them under my calves, my back and on my stomach. When they say hot packs, they aren't joking. They were so hot I felt like I was boiled alive, but I convinced myself it was part of the procedure.

Next, the accupuncturist came in the room and
began feeling my calves. In less than a minute he had his finger on the exact area that was giving me trouble. He flipped me over, asked me to take a deep breath and began inserting needles, first starting with the back of my head and neck, which surprisingly were painless. He moved down to my legs and placed one needle in the soft tissue behind my kneecaps on each side, then two more on my mid calf, 2 near the base of my ankle and two directly into the ruptured muscle. It felt like my energy was bouncing around in between the pins and I could genuinely feel something happening...whether it would be helpful was to be determined.

After ten minutes they removed the needles and began doing "Buhang" on my back, Buhang is a traditional form of Asian therapy, that is believed to have many health benefits including: helping with blood circulation, tight muscles, skin, blood pressure, joint issues, rheumatic problems and even infertility. In this method, glass cups (buhang) are filled with fire and placed on the back to create a vacuum on the skin to dispel stagnation—stagnant blood and lymph, which improves a persons Qi flow. While it does leave bruises, it feels amazing and I did feel incredibly refreshed.

Typical cupping bruises

My last treatment involved two large leg casts, that were used for air pressure massage therapy. They targeted the exact points of my injury and helped to loosen my muscles. Needless to say it felt so good that I fell asleep, only awakened by my own snoring before the nurse came to remove them.

At the end of the treatment (which lasted about an hour) I was expecting a rather hefty bill, instead I paid 6,700 won or roughtly $6.00. As a result I have been back every day this week and I can feel my mobility and flexibility increasing after each treatment. My muscles feel less tight and sore and the strain is practically gone. I am definitely a believer.