Blog & Columns
Useful information about health and Korean medicine.
Total 207 posts
Why can't my child concentrate?
Concentration comes not from willpower but from the body's condition. Sleep, breathing, sitting posture, and comfortable eyes need to be in place first before a child can sit for a long time. This means there are things to look at before writing it off as "no willpower" or "can't sit still." Blaming the child changes nothing. When sleep is short, the first thing to go is attention. At night
Are growing pains really caused by growing?
Despite the name, the evidence that they're directly linked to growth itself is unclear. It also hasn't been confirmed that they hurt more during periods of fast growth. The name causes misunderstandings. Some parents assume pain means their child is growing and leave it alone, but children can grow well without pain and may not grow even with pain. The two should be looked at separately. Mainly in the
Why does precocious puberty cost children height?
When puberty starts early, a child grows faster than peers for a while, but the growth plates close that much earlier too. The growing period gets shorter, and final height ends up lower. Some parents are pleased that "my child is the tallest in the class" and only come in later. It's important to know that growing fast can itself be a sign. If precocious puberty is suspected, see a pediatrician,
How can I tell if my child is on the short side?
How many centimeters your child grew over the past year matters more than where their current height falls among peers. We look at whether their growth rate is slowing down. Being shorter than peers alone is hard to judge. A child who was born small and has steadily grown along that same line is a completely different story from a child who was growing well and recently slowed down. We measure height and weight and
If my pain keeps coming back even after treatment, what should be looked at?
Not the spot that hurts, but the place that is funneling force into it. If only the painful spot is treated over and over, it gets better only while it's being treated and comes back when treatment stops. Some people keep having pain in the same spot. It gets better with treatment, then hurts again a few weeks later. What's needed then is not more of the same treatment, but finding out why the strain keeps building up in that one spot.
What does Chuna treatment do?
It's a treatment that uses the hands to move the joints and surrounding tissues, loosening stiff areas and realigning spots that are out of place. It doesn't just mean cracking bones with a popping sound. When people hear "Chuna," many picture a loud "crack." That's only one of many techniques, and it doesn't have to make a sound to be done well. Gently moving a joint within its range of motion
What is pharmacopuncture, and how is it different from regular acupuncture?
Pharmacopuncture is a treatment in which a purified extract from medicinal herbs is injected through a fine needle. While acupuncture only provides stimulation, pharmacopuncture adds the herbal ingredients directly to the spot on top of the stimulation. We're often asked, "Is it a kind of acupuncture, or an injection?" It's a bit of both. Where it goes follows acupuncture points, and the way it's delivered is closer to an injection. Structures under the skin
Will losing weight help my knee pain?
It helps. The force on your knees when you walk is several times your body weight, so even a small drop in weight reduces the load on your knees by much more. Many people are stuck in a loop: their knees hurt so they can't exercise, they can't exercise so they gain weight, and the extra weight makes their knees hurt more. This loop has to be broken somewhere. Movement that puts less load on the knees
Why doesn't a method that worked for others work for me?
Because the reason weight was gained differs from person to person. If the same method is used for someone who gained weight from eating a lot and someone who gained weight despite eating little, the results are bound to differ. Many people copy a method that worked for someone they know. When it doesn't work, they blame themselves, but in most cases the method simply suited that other person. Broadly speaking,
What should I watch out for when taking herbal medicine for weight loss?
The first changes to watch for are a racing heart or trouble sleeping. Some of the herbs that suppress appetite also have these effects. We don't tell you that "it's herbal, so there are no side effects." Anything that acts on the body can also have effects you don't want. It's safer to know this before you start. If you have high blood pressure or
How are weight-loss injections different from herbal medicine?
They work in different places, and the strength of the evidence is different. Weight-loss injections are drugs that mimic hormones that regulate appetite, and their effects have been confirmed in large clinical trials. There's a reason we state this plainly first. It would not be honest to downplay the evidence for another treatment in order to recommend ours. The evidence for weight-loss injections is stronger than for herbal medicine.
How should I read my body composition test results?
Rather than the number on the scale, we look at which direction your muscle mass and body fat each moved. Even when your weight stays the same, things inside may be changing for the better. If you only look at your weight, it's easy to get discouraged. Early on after starting exercise, muscle increases, so your weight may stay the same or even go up a little. Many people give up at this point. Body fat going down while muscle