A competent doctor can cure everything

The first thing that came into view was the crown of a man’s head, with short black hair and a pronounced occipital bone.

A man lay on his back with his face turned towards the ceiling, his eyes closed.

His head was facing my direction.

From my eye level, it seemed that I was sitting on a simple chair near the man’s head.

“Mr. Noh Won-jun, we’re about to start the cervical Chuna therapy. Relax, haha.”

My voice—no, Professor Kim’s voice from the Acupuncture and Moxibustion Department—said this.

And then, a pair of thick, wrinkled hands appeared in front of me.

The hands approached the back of the man’s head.

‘……!’

The left hand rested heavily on the patient’s head.

Not just the weight, but I could feel each strand of the patient’s hair.

The right hand skillfully began to palpate from the first cervical vertebra downwards.

I could discern exactly what Professor Kim was evaluating while palpating.

For example:

‘Ah, the transverse process of the first cervical vertebra is significantly rotated to the right. This could cause headaches on the right side of the head.’

‘The sixth cervical vertebra is prominently protruding. The tension in the trapezius muscles on both sides might be contributing to shoulder tightness.’

‘Overall, the C-curve of the cervical spine is greatly diminished…. So, for Chuna therapy, we should start with this and finish with that.’

Thus, I was able to experience Professor Kim’s Chuna therapy firsthand.

The treatment began with “simple Chuna” and progressed to “complex Chuna.”

Simple Chuna is a technique for restoring joints or tense muscles that move less than the normal range back to their original state.

Complex Chuna involves moving the joint slightly beyond its usual range to correct it.

‘Finding the range of motion through the end-feel of the joint and the elasticity of surrounding tissues is a key point.’

After several techniques, the final part was the cervical complex Chuna thrust technique.

I focused even more intently on the experience.

It seemed that complex Chuna was more challenging and required greater skill, so I wanted to experience this scene in detail.

“Patient, relax your neck. There’s no need to be tense.”

Professor Kim spoke to the patient with a reassuring laugh to help them relax.

Then, the professor’s hands moved the patient’s head, bending it, pushing it sideways, and rotating it to the end of its range of motion….

Crack-crack-.

The professor applied a brief force to his fingers, which were in contact with the back of the cervical spine.

He found the subtle gray area that was just beyond the usual range of motion, but not painful.

The control of the force was exquisite. It was a technique born from countless experiences and confidence.

And then… the vision ended.

“……”

When I came to, I found myself alone in the Chuna room.

I looked down at my hands.

The sensation from earlier was still vivid in my palms.

‘The patient’s name was Noh Won-jun, wasn’t it?’

So, would this person be the one receiving Chuna therapy from Professor Kim on that bed in the future?

If so, to what extent in the future?

‘I need to check the appointment date for that patient.’

As I was thinking this, the door to the Chuna room suddenly swung open.

I looked up, startled.

“…There was a visitor.”

“Hello, Doctor.”

A man with flowing brown hair and a neatly tailored white coat, with a friendly smile—he was Sim Ji-seop, a second-year resident from the Department of Korean Rehabilitation Medicine.

“Oh, so you’re the famous intern?”

He had a pleasant demeanor and was smiling warmly, but there was something off about him.

I soon realized why.

His eyes were not smiling.

‘…….’

I had a gut feeling.

This person was like me.

Someone who smiles ambiguously due to old wounds that still hurt, despite the outward appearance of a cheerful smile.

It’s something only experienced individuals can distinguish.

Lost in this unnecessary reflection, the other person spoke first.

“So, what is a gastroenterology intern doing here?”

“One of my patients needs Chuna therapy, so I came to check out the Chuna room in advance, with permission from Professor Kim from the Department of Acupuncture and Moxibustion.”

“Hmm, I see… An intern already taking on primary care duties and borrowing the Chuna room. You’re really putting in the effort.”

But it was Sim Ji-seop’s next comment, delivered with a smile, that caught my attention.

“However, don’t overexert yourself. Take it easy.”

“……?”

Not understanding his intent, I waited quietly as he added kindly.

“If you’re too passionate from the start, it’s easy to get tired.”

“Okay… I’ll be on my way then.”

I wrapped up the conversation and left the Chuna room.

What did that mean? Was it just a meaningless piece of advice?

Feeling uneasy, I walked down the hallway.

At the end of the hall, a nurse was seated at the reception desk.

I approached her.

“Do you have the appointment date for the patient ‘Noh Won-jun’ in the Acupuncture and Moxibustion department?”

“Let me check for you.”

The nurse started clicking on the mouse without asking any additional questions.

She then glanced at the screen and tilted her head slightly.

“There’s no appointment scheduled for Noh Won-jun.”

“What? There should be one within the next week.”

“No, there isn’t. There are only records of a recent consultation.”

The nurse clicked the mouse a few more times and then turned her head toward me.

“According to the professor’s notes, the last consultation was for an open follow-up. The patient has moved far away.”

An open follow-up means that treatment has concluded for now, and the patient should return if necessary.

Seeing my puzzled expression, the nurse finally showed curiosity.

“Is there a problem?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

So, what I just saw was a vision of the past, not the future?

Or does it mean that the patient will urgently schedule a consultation soon?

My mind was tangled with various possibilities.

I quickly came up with an idea and said to the nurse:

“Excuse me, I think I left something in the Acupuncture and Moxibustion treatment room. May I go in for a moment?”

“Yes, the treatment room is empty right now, so you can go in and check.”

The nurse answered kindly and indifferently, then quickly turned her attention away from me.

* * *

That late afternoon, as the outpatient consultations were winding down.

As I had checked earlier, there was no one in the Chuna treatment room.

I guided Patient Park Young-jin into the room.

“Please lie down here and look at the ceiling.”

I laid the patient on the bed and began palpating the cervical spine.

Then, I had the patient move their neck through various motions.

By checking the alignment of the bones and the motions that were difficult, techniques for Chuna began to naturally come to mind.

“It’s similar to the state of the neck I felt during the earlier possession.”

To use a mathematical analogy, it feels like a problem with just the numbers changed after solving it once before.

The issue is just which cervical vertebra is problematic and whether the limited movements are on the right or left side.

“Please relax and don’t tense up your neck.”

First, I performed the JS supine cervical extension adjustment method.

I held the patient’s side head with my palms, used the tips of my fingers to open each cervical vertebra left and right, rotated, and stretched them to relieve tension.

“Oh, that feels great.”

The patient murmured with satisfaction and then asked,

“So, is this Chuna? It doesn’t make any popping sounds.”

“This is a type of Chuna as well, but it’s a stage where we are relieving tension in the neck.”

“I see.”

At first, the patient had their neck tensed up, but gradually began to relax and let their head be guided by my hands.

Next was the cervical extension technique using a towel.

I placed the towel over the cervical spine from C4 to C5 and held it with both hands.

By pulling with wrist strength, I created the curve of the cervical spine.

Then, I began the traction.

“Keep your arms straight and use your body weight to pull gently.”

I recalled the techniques Professor Kim had used during my experience.

Soon, the patient had relaxed their entire body and was making satisfied noises.

Finally, I performed the cervical thrust.

It’s not about applying force forcibly.

The key is to stabilize the patient’s head properly and transfer the body’s force effectively to your hands.

“And then, slightly flex the head, move it to the end of the range of motion, and apply a small amount of force suddenly.”

Crack-.

The joint’s popping sound resonated sharply.

The sensation of my hands from the earlier vision was now replicated in reality.

“You can get up now.”

As the treatment concluded, the patient clambered off the bed and went to the mirror on the wall of the Chuna room, moving their neck and exclaiming with admiration.

“My neck feels clear and moves well. I think my posture has already improved. It feels like my chest is more open.”

Seeing the patient’s happiness also pleased me, but I reminded them once again about their daily habits.

“Creating a curve in a straight neck is definitely not easy. Just receiving Chuna treatment without doing exercises is useless.”

“That makes sense…”

“It’s the result of a long-standing bad posture, so it naturally takes time to correct.”

The patient nodded earnestly, listening to my words like a good student.

“Think about it. If the shortened muscles continue to pull on the bones, the neck will go back to being straight, right? Also, strengthening the muscles through exercise helps relieve pain.”

“So, what kind of exercises should I do?”

Although it might sound strange, I genuinely appreciate patients who trust me with their care.

It’s both a gratitude and an immense sense of responsibility.

That’s probably why, despite my usual quiet nature, I tend to talk a lot when answering patients’ questions.

“First, you need to relax the shortened muscles like the upper trapezius and levator scapula. Then, you should do strengthening exercises for the weakened muscles, like the lower trapezius…”

Although it wasn’t an on-call day, I found myself staying past regular hours while passionately teaching the exercises.

Yet, instead of feeling frustrated, I felt a deep sense of fulfillment.

* * *

That evening, Park Young-jin found himself gazing at the mirror without realizing it.

“Wow. Just correcting my posture really makes a difference.”

It was a stark contrast to the hunched posture he used to have.

He had always been self-conscious and lacked confidence, which he considered a complex, but now he felt that changing his posture had made him more assertive.

His mind felt clear and refreshed for the first time in a while.

“I was told that if I don’t exercise, it will go back to the way it was.”

He opened his laptop and searched for the exercises the doctor had recommended, diligently following along.

After finishing his exercises, he happily logged into a gaming community.

Since it was a personal post, he naturally used his secondary ID.

[Daily Life] Day 2 of Hospitalization

I was admitted due to irritable bowel syndrome, but my primary doctor noticed that I had persistent headaches and said it was due to my straight neck, so I got Chuna treatment.

I feel incredibly refreshed and cool, haha. And with my shoulders straightened, I think my appearance is looking better too? lol

As he wrote, he was reminded of his original reason for hospitalization.

“Now that I think about it, I’ve only had diarrhea twice today… well, it might be a coincidence.”

He wondered how great it would be if the frequency stayed this low in everyday life—at work, on trips, during dates with his girlfriend, and so on.

Frequent abdominal pain and diarrhea had disrupted his social life, worsening his already anxious nature, Park Young-jin thought.

While browsing the web for a while, comments started coming in.

Unlike the previous post, the comments were positive, likely because the content was optimistic.

“What’s up with this comment?”

Park Young-jin raised his eyebrows as he slowly reviewed the comments.