Frequently Asked Questions
Here are the questions people often ask before a visit. If you can't find your answer, feel free to ask us in English through the messenger at the bottom right of the page.
Message us in English through the messenger (chat) at the bottom right of the page. Our staff translate the replies, so it may take a little time to hear back.
Phone: +82-53-716-1175 (within Korea: 053-716-1175)
About your visit
Q. What are your hours?
A. We're open every day. On weekdays (Mon–Fri), we're open from 10:00 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. On Saturdays, Sundays, and public holidays, we're open from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Lunch break is 1:00–2:00 p.m. on weekdays and 1:00–1:30 p.m. on weekends and public holidays.
Q. Is there parking?
A. You can use the underground parking in our building. If it's full, you can also park at the Apple Tower 2 lot (8-12 Dongdaegu-ro 59-gil) or the nearby Kakao parking lot (588-1 Beomeo-dong). Just bring your receipt and we'll cover the full parking fee.
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Q. Do I need an appointment?
A. Contacting us ahead of time can shorten your wait. You can ask questions or book in English through the messenger (chat) at the bottom right of the page. You can also call us at +82-53-716-1175.
Q. Does acupuncture hurt?
A. The needles used for acupuncture are very thin, and most patients barely feel any pain.
Q. How do I take herbal medicine?
A. Herbal medicine is usually taken 30 minutes after a meal.
Q. Is treatment at a Korean medicine clinic covered by insurance?
A. Basic Korean medicine treatments such as acupuncture and cupping are covered by Korean National Health Insurance. Herbal medicine is not covered. We'll tell you the cost in advance when we talk with you.
Questions by condition
Tap a condition name to go to its page.
Q. I fall asleep fine but wake up before dawn. Is that something you treat?
A. Yes. That's the type we see most often. Waking up during the night (sleep maintenance insomnia) has different causes and calls for a different approach than trouble falling asleep. We start by asking what time you wake up.
Q. I take sleeping pills. Can I still get treatment?
A. Yes. You start while keeping your current medication, and we don't recommend stopping suddenly on your own. When it's time to reduce, we'll guide you to take your records to the doctor who prescribed it and talk it over with them. How much and how fast to reduce is for the prescriber to decide.
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Q. Do you diagnose insomnia with a brainwave (EEG) test?
A. No. The EEG isn't a diagnostic tool. It's a reference for tendencies in alertness and a way to compare before and after treatment. Diagnosis is based on a consultation and an assessment of your sleep patterns, and when needed, we refer you to a sleep study center.
Q. I do sleep, but it never feels deep.
A. Deep sleep naturally comes only in the early part of the night. Even on a very good night it's about an hour and a half, and on a bad night 20 to 30 minutes. Nobody sleeps deeply all night long. Knowing this can ease the worry that "I never get deep sleep" a little.
Q. Tests show nothing wrong, so why can't I sleep?
A. Tests look for tissue damage or abnormal numbers. Problems like whether your body properly settles down at night may not be picked up. We check for those through abdominal and pulse diagnosis.
Q. What is cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I)?
A. It's a way of correcting habits and thoughts that get in the way of sleep, through counseling. We go over together what time you go to bed and get up, and what you do when you can't sleep, and fix things one at a time. Some things medicine alone can't reach, so we use both together.
Q. How long will I need to come in?
A. We allow about one month for symptoms to settle and three months to get the body back on track. Your body didn't get this way overnight. It got tangled up gradually, so untangling it also takes time. If you only want to try it for a month, we'll honestly tell you it may be better not to start. In a month, sleep quality may improve a little, but your overall condition won't have caught up yet. At a set point, we check the changes together and decide whether to continue or change direction. We won't keep you coming in with no end in sight.
Q. I don't have time to visit during the day.
A. We're open every day: until 8:30 p.m. on weekdays, and until 4:00 p.m. on weekends and public holidays. Many office workers come in after work.
Q. I heard frozen shoulder goes away on its own with time.
A. It does sometimes get better on its own, but that can take 1–2 years, and in the meantime the shoulder may stiffen and leave you with limited movement. Treatment aims to shorten that period and reduce the discomfort.
Q. How long does it take?
A. At the quickest, we estimate 3 months. This shoulder didn't get this way suddenly. It built up gradually, so loosening it also happens gradually. We won't give you the short estimate, because an overblown promise turns into an overblown disappointment.
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Q. My shoulder hurts. Why are you looking at my back and pelvis?
A. When your back is rounded and your shoulders roll forward, the space the shoulder has to move in shrinks. If you keep using it that way, the joint capsule gets injured again, and the body stiffens it again to protect itself. That's why the shoulder stiffens again if you only loosen it and leave the posture as it is.
Q. What is hydrodilatation?
A. It's a method of injecting medicine into a joint capsule that has stuck together and hardened, to widen and soften it. The stiffness has to be released first before exercise can widen your range of motion.
Q. Should I exercise or rest?
A. It depends on the phase. Forcing movement during the most painful phase can actually make the inflammation worse. We'll check which phase you're in now and guide you accordingly.
Q. Does herbal medicine help too?
A. We use it to manage inflammation and pain and replenish your strength to recover. During your visit, we'll also tell you whether that approach is backed by evidence.
Q. I'm getting treatment, but I still can't reach behind my back.
A. Movement comes back in a set order. Raising forward comes first, lifting out to the side next, and bending the elbow and rotating outward last. Not yet being able to reach behind your back means that stage is still to come in the sequence, not that the treatment isn't working.
Q. Can bow legs be corrected?
A. Some can, and some can't. When the pelvis is twisted and the thighbones are rotated inward so the legs look bowed, that can be corrected. When the bone itself is curved, hands-on adjustment or exercise can't reverse it. We find out which kind you have with an exam before we start.
Q. Can I check at home first?
A. Stand up straight in front of a mirror and see which way both kneecaps are pointing. If your knees point inward toward each other, it's likely the treatable kind. If your knees face straight ahead but there's still a gap between your legs, the bone may be the cause. This is only a rough guess, though. We confirm it at your visit.
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Q. If the bone is curved, is there nothing I can do?
A. Our correction won't change it, and we make that clear from the start. But even if the bone is curved, if it's putting extra strain on your knees or lower back, we can help spread that strain out. That's a different thing from changing the shape of your legs.
Q. Won't my legs go back after the correction?
A. If your old posture and habits stay the same, your body tends to return to its old pattern. That's why we work on exercise and everyday posture along with treatment, and why we give you things to do at home.
Q. My child has bow legs. Will they grow out of it?
A. There is a stage when legs naturally straighten as children grow. But if the gap seems to widen year after year, or your child seems uncomfortable walking, it's worth having it checked. During growth, posture and muscles are taking shape together.
Q. Why do you check my neck for bow legs?
A. Even if your pelvis drops on one side, your eyes always try to stay level. To keep them level, the body bends somewhere in between to balance itself. So people with a twisted pelvis often have a neck turned the opposite way. If we fix only the legs and leave the rest as is, things go back.
Q. I started treatment, and it feels like I'm even more out of line.
A. You may feel that way for the first month or two. It doesn't mean something's wrong. When one part is lifted, the whole body shifts along with it. We mention this ahead of time because some people stop right here. Things settle into place after you get through this stage.
Q. How often do I need to come in?
A. For posture correction, we recommend twice a week. Just as going to a tutor twice a week gets you further than once a week, putting in more sessions early on means you can keep progressing later with fewer visits. If that's hard to manage, coming in once a week or even once every two weeks is still better for your body.
Q. How long does it take?
A. For functional bow legs, we plan on about 20 sessions over 3 months. It didn't appear suddenly from one wrong step. It's the result of years of your body leaning off balance, so undoing it takes time too. This doesn't apply when the bone itself is curved. We find out which kind you have first, and then tell you how long to expect.
Q. My endoscopy was clear. Why does it still hurt?
A. An endoscopy looks for inflammation or ulcers in the lining. It can't show functional problems, like how well the stomach moves or whether enough blood is reaching it. Reduced function may be the cause.
Q. What do you mean the acid is weak, not strong?
A. When not enough blood reaches the stomach, stomach acid becomes diluted. Diluted acid can't digest food on time, so the body tries to make up the shortfall with volume. That extra stomach fluid then overflows upward. It does overflow, but not because it's strong. It's weak, so more is produced, and then it overflows.
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Q. I feel bloated after meals and keep burping.
A. This is when, on top of the acid problem, the stomach also isn't moving well physically. Food sits instead of moving down, gas builds up, and the burping keeps coming. In this case we combine herbal medicine with visceral Chuna, where we work on the abdomen by hand.
Q. Is it okay to keep taking acid blockers?
A. Sometimes they're needed. We don't recommend stopping suddenly on your own. When acid secretion is suppressed, the body keeps stockpiling signals telling it to make acid. If the medication is then removed, everything that built up is released at once, and things can actually get worse. One study found that even in healthy people with no reflux symptoms at all, 44% developed symptoms after taking the medication for 8 weeks and then stopping (summary of the evidence). So we start while you keep taking your current medication as is. When it's time to cut down, we'll guide you to talk it over with the prescriber, bringing your records with you. How much and how fast to reduce is for the prescriber to decide. Our part is helping your body get to where that decision becomes possible.
Q. Can herbal medicine help?
A. When the approach is to help the stomach move on its own rather than to suppress symptoms, it often helps. But it depends on your condition, so we'll check during your visit and tell you.
Q. I brush well, but I still have bad breath.
A. The first step is to have a dentist check your gums and teeth for problems. If they say everything is fine and the odor still won't go away, we look at your stomach too. When digestion is slow and food stays a long time, the odor can rise upward.
Q. Will I never be able to eat wheat-based foods again?
A. It's best to avoid them during treatment, but once your stomach function recovers, having them now and then is fine.
Q. I cough at night, but it's not a cold.
A. Even with a cold, you cough less while you sleep, because the brain switches off the cough reflex during sleep. But it can't switch off the airway irritation caused by reflux. That's why you cough at night, and it's worse when you lie down. Some people come in for a nighttime cough alone, and it turns out to be reflux.
Q. My stomach is the main issue, but my bowel movements are irregular too.
A. That's a symptom that tends to come along with it. When a lot of stomach acid is being produced, the acidity is off further down as well. So people with reflux often have bowel problems too, whether constipation or diarrhea. When you have to go right after eating or can't hold it for long, we call it "stinging stools." We don't look only at the stomach and forget what's below.
Q. Even when I'm full, I keep wanting to eat, and I crave sweets.
A. When food is absorbed well, the brain sends a signal to stop eating. When it isn't absorbed, a signal to eat more goes out instead. That's why you keep wanting to eat even when your stomach feels full, and why sweets in particular are so tempting. We don't see it as a matter of willpower.
Q. Herbal medicine is a liquid. Won't it make the reflux worse?
A. It can, so we ask first and then decide. Sometimes liquids can actually trigger reflux. We adjust when you take it and how much, or switch to a different form. If it bothers you after you try it, please tell us right away. Putting up with it won't help.
Q. Another hospital recommended surgery. Can I still come to you?
A. Yes. But we take things in order. If you have emergency signs (foot drop, changes in bladder or bowel control), we'll tell you plainly that a place that can assess you for surgery comes first. If not, we set a time frame together and check how far conservative treatment can take you. One more thing: our director also had surgery after his L4-5 disc ruptured. Before that, he held out for a year and a half to two years with both Korean and Western medicine, but in the end it didn't work. So when we judge that surgery will help you more, we won't hold on to you. We'll refer you quickly. Surgery isn't for when something sticks out on an MRI. It's for when you can't manage daily life. And even surgery doesn't make you 100%. It makes daily life possible again where it wasn't.
Q. Do I have to get an MRI?
A. Sometimes we can start based on your symptoms and an exam alone. But if spinal stenosis is suspected, or you don't respond to treatment as expected, imaging is needed. In that case you can get it in partnership with the radiology clinic on the 2nd floor of the same building.
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Q. Is it okay to keep wearing a back brace?
A. When we reviewed the research, we found no solid evidence for the idea that "wearing a brace weakens your muscles." What matters isn't whether you wear a brace, but whether you keep walking while you wear it. We've written it up in Does wearing a back brace for a long time weaken your muscles?
Q. Stenosis means the bone has narrowed. Can acupuncture really help?
A. The goal isn't to widen the narrowed space itself. The goal is to reduce the strain and inflammation on the nerves inside it, and to help your body share the load. We've summarized the evidence, with references, in Spinal stenosis: is surgery the only option?
Q. Is Chuna covered by national health insurance?
A. Yes. Korean national health insurance has covered it since 2019, and before treatment we'll tell you which treatments are covered.
Q. How long will I need to come in?
A. It depends on your condition. At your first visit, we set an expected plan and a check-in point. At that point, we look at changes in your walking time and pain and decide together whether to continue or change direction. We won't keep you coming with no end in sight.
Q. Is forward head posture why my neck hurts?
A. They do tend to go together. In an analysis that pooled 15 studies, adults with neck pain had a head-forward angle 4.8 degrees larger on average than adults without neck pain. However, it hasn't yet been sorted out whether the posture caused the pain, or the pain caused the posture. All the included studies measured only a single point in time. A painful neck can naturally hunch in on itself. And in teenagers, who look at their phones the longest, no link between posture and pain was found at all. So we don't treat posture as the culprit; we use it as information. We've written up the evidence separately.
Q. My neck hurts, so why look at my jaw and pelvis?
A. When the jaw shifts out of line, the first and second neck vertebrae just below it shift too, and once the top is off, the ones below follow one by one. The strain that travels down gathers in the middle of the neck. On the other hand, when the pelvis tilts, the whole spine tilts with it. If your neck keeps flaring up even after treating just the neck, the cause may lie above or below.
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Q. I have forward head posture, so why treat my upper back?
A. With forward head posture, the neck doesn't move forward on its own. The upper back rounds and pushes the neck sitting on top of it forward. So even if you pull the neck back, it soon slips again if the upper back stays the same. We always include treatment to straighten a rounded upper back.
Q. What does the jaw have to do with the neck?
A. We chew and swallow thousands of times a day. A single misalignment is small, but when it adds up thousands of times a day, it's a different story. Even a small stimulus, repeated endlessly, eventually produces visible results. That's the same reason the feet matter for the lower back.
Q. I was told I need surgery.
A. In some cases, the pressure on the nerve is severe enough that surgery is needed. We'll check your condition and tell you honestly whether conservative (non-surgical) treatment is an option for you.
Q. Can posture really be corrected?
A. We don't promise to improve the angle by a certain number of degrees. If the muscles can't hold it, a corrected posture slips back. That's why we combine correction with exercise. And what we track isn't the angle, but your pain and how far your neck can turn. We note both before treatment and compare.
Q. Can children be treated too?
A. Yes. During the growing years, we take a different approach than with adults. In children, posture also affects the conditions for growth, so it's better to have it checked early.
Q. I stretch every day, but nothing changes.
A. You may be missing one direction. In an analysis that pooled 27 studies on exercise therapy for neck pain, strengthening exercises for the neck, shoulders and shoulder blades reduced pain. Stretching alone, on the other hand, remained on the weaker side of the evidence. Stretching is a supporting step. Building holding strength is the direction the evidence points to.
Q. Do I need to watch my posture all the time?
A. Changing position often is better than searching for the perfect posture. What strains the neck isn't one bad posture, but staying fixed in any posture for a long time. Policing your posture all day is exhausting in its own way. Instead, we'll help you set your screen height and how often to change position.
Q. I'm thinking of buying a posture-correcting brace.
A. There isn't yet good-quality evidence that posture braces or supports reduce neck pain. We're not saying don't buy one; just don't expect it alone to solve the problem. Whether a brace makes sense depends on the diagnosis and the purpose. If there's a place for one, we use it for a set period, and keep building holding strength alongside it.
Q. How is this different from store-bought insoles?
A. Every foot is shaped differently, but ready-made insoles come in a fixed shape. The difference is that we measure your feet and design the insoles to fit them. Insoles that don't fit can actually make things worse.
Q. My foot hurts, so why are you looking at my pelvis?
A. When the pelvis tips forward, your stride gets shorter. With a shorter stride, instead of landing heel first, you start landing on the middle of the foot. Because the heel gets used less, that area stiffens. So if we only loosen the foot and leave the pelvis as is, it stiffens up again as you walk.
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Q. If I have flat feet, do I have to get them corrected?
A. Not everyone with flat feet has problems. If you have pain, or it's starting to affect your knees or lower back, it's a good idea to have it checked.
Q. Can children get this treatment too?
A. Yes. While children are growing, the condition of their feet affects their posture and growth, so it's better to check early.
Q. Are insoles all I need?
A. Sometimes correcting the feet alone helps, but if it has already affected your knees or lower back, we need to look at those too. We'll tell you after checking your condition.
Q. Do I need to get insoles right from the start?
A. No. First we treat the inflamed area with pharmacopuncture and acupuncture and see whether it improves. For some people, that's enough, and then we don't go further. If it still doesn't get better, it means the cause is still there, and that's when we move on to lifting the arch.
Q. Will the insoles really lift my arch?
A. When you walk with the inner arch supported from below, a fallen arch rises again. As the arch finds its place, some people find the pain eases within a few days. How long it takes, though, depends on how far the arch has fallen and how much you walk.
Q. The insoles seem a bit expensive.
A. Once they're made, they last a long time. I used my first pair for seven years. We also adjust them for a year. At around 6 months, we'll contact you first. If you wear them faithfully your feet change, so we adjust them once more to match.
Q. I got insoles fitted, and now it hurts more.
A. Pain can flare up right after new insoles are fitted or the height is adjusted. We mention this ahead of time because if you don't know, you may think the insoles are wrong and stop wearing them. As your walk changes, parts that weren't being used start working. If it's very uncomfortable, let us know and we'll readjust the height.
Q. I was fine on the day of the accident, but it started hurting the next day. Is that strange?
A. No, that's the typical order. Pain from muscle and ligament injuries often sets in a day or two later. Hurting later doesn't mean you're overreacting. Once symptoms start, that's the time to come in.
Q. The ER said my tests showed nothing wrong. Can I still be treated?
A. Yes. Those tests ruled out problems with the bones, but the heart of a whiplash injury is soft tissue damage that doesn't show on an X-ray. We treat the pain and movement problems from that damage. If you have symptoms like numbness or weakness in the arm, though, we check those more closely first.
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Q. How do I use my auto insurance?
A. Tell your insurance company that you'll be treated at a Korean medicine clinic, and bring the claim number they give you. If the process is unfamiliar, our front desk will walk you through it from the start. Acupuncture, pharmacopuncture, Chuna and herbal medicine are covered by auto insurance.
Q. Do I need to keep wearing a neck brace?
A. No study has found that wearing a brace for a long time and strict bed rest give better results. If you need one, we set a time limit for it, and guide you toward moving your neck within a pain-free range.
Q. How long will I need to come in?
A. It depends on the injury, but the standard is clear. Within the first three months, when most recovery happens, we reassess your pain and range of motion at set points, and decide together from those numbers whether to continue. We won't keep you coming in with no end in sight.
Q. Can I get Korean medicine treatment and hospital treatment at the same time?
A. Yes. Let us know what treatment you're receiving, and we'll adjust things so they don't overlap.
Q. Isn't it better to settle quickly?
A. Let us say this first. We neither recommend settling nor talk you out of it. The decision is yours. We only give you the information you need to decide. A settlement includes the cost of future treatment. The person who needs a lot of future treatment is the person who is still in pain, and the insurance company judges that by how often you've been seeing a doctor. You don't have to take "we'll give you more if you settle early" at face value. In reality, it's often only about 100,000 won extra. If you settle after getting treatment, you usually receive more at that point. That said, everyone's situation is different. For some people, wrapping things up now is the better choice. That's why we don't decide for you. We give you information.
Q. I don't know much about insurance, and it makes me anxious.
A. Please ask. We can talk with you from your side. From getting a claim number, to which documents you need, to what stage you're at now, we'll tell you what we know. Making a decision without knowing is what puts you at the biggest disadvantage.
Q. Work makes it hard for me to come in often.
A. Coming in once a week, or even once every two weeks, is still better. It helps your body, and it also leaves a record of your treatment. If your visits are spaced further apart, we'll set things for you to do at home to match. Missing visits for a while doesn't mean starting over from scratch.
Q. Is herbal medicine for weight loss safe?
A. We check before we prescribe. We review your heart, blood pressure, sleep and any medications you take, and look at blood test results when needed before prescribing. We ask you to tell us right away if you notice anything like a racing heart, trouble sleeping or an upset stomach while taking it, and we adjust the prescription. If your condition calls for some other kind of care before herbal medicine, we'll tell you so. Because this medicine raises your metabolism, we also tell you when to take it. Take your last dose no later than 4–5 hours before bed. If you go to bed at midnight, that means 7 p.m. at the latest. Taking it late can make your sleep lighter.
Q. How many kilograms can I lose?
A. We don't promise a specific number. We've seen too many times how that kind of promise leads to extreme weight loss, and extreme weight loss leads to the yo-yo effect. Instead, after the tests at your first visit, we set a realistic target range and timeline together, and check along the way by measuring your body composition again.
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Q. Do I have to starve?
A. No. Losing weight by starving cuts into muscle and sets you up for the yo-yo effect. Our rule is to work out together a way of eating you can stick with.
Q. Do I have to exercise?
A. Let's set the right expectations first. Exercise plays a smaller part in weight loss itself than most people think. An hour of tennis burns about 400 kcal, and one bowl of rice is about 400 kcal. Eating half your rice does as much as an hour of walking. On top of that, exercise makes you tired, so you end up eating more to make up for it. That doesn't mean you shouldn't exercise. It clearly helps protect muscle, so we'll figure out together what level fits your life. But eating comes first. If pain keeps you from starting to exercise, we deal with that first. As your weight goes down, the strain on your knees goes down too.
Q. Which is better, tablets or herbal decoction?
A. It's less about which is better and more about which fits your life and your body. Tablets suit people who find decoctions hard to take, while a decoction is the right fit when you need adjustments tailored to your constitution.
Q. My job makes it hard to come in often.
A. We're open every day of the year, until 20:30 on weekdays and until 16:00 on weekends and public holidays, so you can come after work or on the weekend. How often you come in depends on your prescription and condition.
Q. I lost a lot in the first two weeks, but now it's slower.
A. Not everything you lose at the start is fat. The microbes living in your large intestine alone weigh 2–3 kg. Some of what goes first is water and what was left in your system. So we don't want you to get excited over the early numbers, or anxious when things slow down afterward. What we watch is body fat percentage.
Q. Don't you gain less weight if you skip breakfast?
A. It's the opposite. Cortisol is the hormone that helps you handle stress. It rises sharply in the morning and falls throughout the day. As it falls, melatonin rises and you get sleepy. They move like a seesaw. When you skip breakfast, cortisol climbs higher and drops faster. The total for the day is the same, but the curve gets spikier. So you get really sleepy early in the evening, then can't fall asleep when you lie down at 10, and end up sleeping at midnight. When this goes on, your body decides it's in an emergency and tries to store everything you eat. That's why you gain weight even when you eat about the same amount. Working late, which keeps this hormone high all the time, is even worse.
Q. I quit drinking, and now I crave sweets even more.
A. Alcohol and sweets go hand in hand. It's normal to crave sweets a lot after you stop drinking. It's not a sign of weak willpower, so don't just try to hold out. Tell us, and we'll decide together how to handle it.
Q. I haven't gained that much, but I still want to lose weight.
A. Let's start with the tests. If you're at or below a standard weight, we won't recommend losing weight, even if you want to. Instead, we'll go over your test results and explain why now isn't the time. Sometimes your body feels heavy because you have too little muscle. In that case, the answer is building up, not slimming down.
Q. My child eats well but isn't getting taller.
A. Eating alone doesn't make a child grow. We also need to look at whether they sleep well, have regular bowel movements, don't get sick often, and aren't building up heat. We find which of the five is blocked and work on that first.
Q. I thought my child slept well.
A. If they keep moving around the bed while asleep, wake up with soaking wet hair, or kick off the covers, it's worth a second look. Children who run hot keep searching for a cool spot even in their sleep. They look asleep, but their body isn't resting. The same goes for children with a stuffy nose.
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Q. My child goes to bed at 11 p.m. or midnight. Is that late?
A. Growth hormone is released most between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. If your child is awake then, they get that much less of it. Children look taller in the morning because they actually grow while asleep, and their spine straightens out while lying down.
Q. My child often skips breakfast. Does that affect height?
A. Yes, it does. When breakfast is skipped, the body treats it as stress and releases a burst of the hormone that helps it cope, all in the morning. What comes out in a burst drops quickly, and when it drops, children crave sweets. Then it rises again toward evening and pushes bedtime later. Children who droop in the afternoon and perk right up after dinner fit this pattern.
Q. My child often eats malatang or tteokbokki.
A. Refined carbohydrates like glass noodles and rice cakes keep making heat in the body, like firewood. What's left over after making heat is stored as fat, so weight goes up without height to match. Blood sugar rises and falls sharply, which can make children more irritable, too. Breakouts around the mouth are often caused by food rather than acne.
Q. My daughter has had her first period. Is it too late?
A. Girls usually keep growing for about a year and a half to two years after their first period. But growth slows down gradually, so we first need to check how much time is left. We look at a hand X-ray to see how much growth plate remains, and tell you what we find.
Q. From what age can my child be treated?
A. It depends on your child's condition more than their age. If they don't eat well, sleep lightly, or have poor posture, it's better to come in early.
Q. Why does running hot have anything to do with growth?
A. Think of a car's fuel efficiency. Some cars go far on the same fuel, and some don't. A child who gives off a lot of heat even while sitting still uses a lot of energy just getting through the day. Children have to get through the day and grow on top of that—and if energy goes into making heat first, less is left for growing. Built-up heat also makes sleep lighter.
Q. My child isn't keen on treatment.
A. To be honest, it doesn't go well in that case. I compare growth treatment to an orchestra. There's a part for parents at home, a part for me, and a part your child has to play themselves. If even one is out of step, the music falls apart. So at the first visit, I ask your child directly: were you dragged here, or did you want to come?
Q. Won't my child have a hard time taking herbal medicine?
A. We adjust it into a form your child can take. Medicine they can't take won't work, so we take this seriously.
Q. How tall can my child get?
A. We can't promise a certain number of centimeters. Instead, here's what we tell parents. Every child has a range they grow within each year. During a growth spurt, children usually grow about 6 cm a year—4 cm in a bad year, 8 cm in a good one. Our job is to help your child stay toward the top of that range. With herbal medicine, plus the meals and sleep you support at home, they move toward the top. Going to bed at midnight or 1 a.m. and skipping breakfast before school pulls them toward the bottom. How much of that range is still left, we tell you after checking the growth plates.
Q. My child seems to be done growing. Is there anything we can do?
A. We'll look at a hand X-ray and tell you. If the bones have finished growing, we'll tell you plainly that nothing can change that. Their growth rate has probably already slowed a lot, too. In that case, we suggest a different goal: stamina and how they feel while studying. A body that sleeps well, eats well and gets sick less is what anyone that age needs, regardless of height. We won't tell you something will work when it won't.
Q. Doesn't deer antler make children gain weight?
A. Deer antler itself doesn't cause weight gain. It's true that children tend to eat more. If they eat foods that add weight, they gain weight; if they eat foods that support growth, they grow taller. So while your child is taking the medicine, we also look at what they're eating.
Q. How long should my child take herbal medicine?
A. We think in terms of about half the year. Some children take it for 3 months and then rest for 3 months; others go in 6-month stretches. It's not taken nonstop—there are rest periods, and we keep tracking height and weight in between. It depends on how much growing time is left.
Q. My child's legs look like different lengths.
A. In elementary and middle school, the growth plates are still open, so there's room to even out the length by adjusting the stimulus. But it may not even out. We tell you that up front, too. Once growth is finished, the length itself can't be matched, so instead we support the shorter side and shift weight the other way. That's why timing is everything here. If the legs look uneven, it's better to have them checked now.
Symptoms and how treatment goes vary from person to person. The information above is general guidance; we'll check the details with you during your visit.