Blog & Columns
Useful information about health and Korean medicine.
Total 207 posts
Why it hurts more the day after a car accident: you're not faking it
You had an accident yesterday. It wasn't a big one. But this morning you can't turn your neck. Then a strange thought creeps in: if I say it hurts a day later, will people think I'm faking? You can let go of that thought right now. Pain that starts a day or two later is the normal course of this kind of injury.
Feeling bloated after meals and burning on an empty stomach are not the same thing
"My digestion is bad." Inside these words there are actually two different people. One feels bloated, as if the pit of the stomach is blocked, every time they eat. The other feels a burning pain in the pit of the stomach when it's empty. Both were told their endoscopy was normal, and both think the same thing: if it's normal, why does this keep happening?
You Thought It Was Frozen Shoulder, but It Might Not Be
When your shoulder hurts and your arm won't go up, people often assume it's frozen shoulder, but there are at least three shoulder problems that look the same. Frozen shoulder needs the stiffness released, while a torn tendon shouldn't be stretched carelessly, so the treatments can go in opposite directions. If your arm won't go up even when someone else lifts it, it's more likely frozen shoulder; if it goes up when lifted but you can't raise it yourself, it's more likely the tendon. But these are only guesses, so we confirm with an exam and imaging.
If Shoulder Pain Wakes You Up at Night
Shoulder problems hurt more at night. During the day the pain is bearable enough that you put off seeing a doctor, and at night it wrecks your sleep. In a study that followed 269 shoulders for an average of 4.4 years, the saying "leave it alone and it will heal" didn't hold for 4 in 10, and those who had severe pain at the start took longer. Pain bad enough to wake you isn't a signal to wait but a signal to start. But if a tendon is torn, the treatment is completely different.
"Your Tests Are Normal" Shouldn't Be Where Care Ends
"Your tests are normal" doesn't mean "nothing is wrong." It means "a serious illness has become less likely." Care shouldn't end there; it should start there. Dr. Nahyun Park of our clinic is co-first author of a paper that measured how common fatigue is by pooling data from 620,000 people worldwide. Out of 100 people who come in for fatigue, a serious illness is found in only 4 or 5.
If Your Health Checkup Is Normal but You're Still Tired
Out of 100 people who see a doctor for tiredness, only 4 or 5 turn out to have a serious illness. Being tired with normal test results is actually common, and it means the cause lies outside what the tests check. We look at four things: when you're tired, what kind of sleep you get, how you've been feeling lately, and what your daily rhythm is like. But if you're losing weight for no reason or have a fever, seeing a doctor comes first.
Don't Walk Until Your Legs Go Numb
With spinal stenosis, walking less weakens your legs and leaves you able to walk even less. But that doesn't mean pushing on until your legs go numb. If you rest before the numbness starts and then walk again, each stretch may be shorter, but the total you walk in a day goes up. Measuring once a week how long you can walk without stopping is the most honest measure.
Should You Tell Your Parents to Stop Wearing Their Back Brace?
The idea that wearing a back brace for a long time weakens your muscles isn't supported by research so far. When 35 studies were pooled, strength either didn't change or actually increased, and only one study found it decreased. But there's little research following people who wear one for years. Rather than the brace itself, we look at whether your parent walks while wearing it, and whether the brace is hiding warning signs that need checking.
Advised to Have Surgery for Spinal Stenosis? Five Questions to Ask
This article isn't meant to talk you out of surgery. It gives you five questions to ask at any hospital so you don't hand the decision over entirely to someone else: Do you have emergency signs? Do your images match your symptoms? Have you given non-surgical treatment a proper try? What will surgery fix and what will remain? Do you lose anything by waiting? If you have emergency signs, a surgical evaluation comes first.
If Your Legs Go Numb When You Walk and You Keep Having to Stop
When your legs go numb as you walk and recover when you rest, it's called neurogenic claudication, and a common cause is spinal stenosis. Whether sitting makes it better, whether downhill is harder, and whether you can walk farther pushing a cart are clues you can check at home. But they're only guesses, so we confirm with imaging. If you can't lift your foot or your bladder or bowel control has changed, a surgical evaluation comes first.
Not All Small Children Are the Same
The biggest factor in a child's final height is genetics, and no treatment has evidence that it can push a child beyond that range. Growth care means removing what eats into that potential so a child grows as much as they naturally can. Small children fall into three groups with completely different paths: late growers, children held back by an illness, and children growing too fast. The last two are hard to reverse if you miss the timing. The first step isn't a prescription but sorting out which group your child is in.
After a Car Accident: Your Tests Are Normal, but You're in Pain
At the moment of impact, the neck whips back and forth, injuring muscles and ligaments, and these tissues don't show up well on X-rays. Being told your tests are normal doesn't mean you weren't injured. Most recovery happens in the first 3 months, and no study has found that wearing a neck brace and resting works better.