Icheon Back Clinic — If Morning Stiffness and Sharp Shooting Pain Keep Coming Back
Icheon Back Clinic — If Morning Stiffness and Sharp Shooting Pain Keep Coming Back
Hello.
This is Director Seo Se-wook of Kyunghee Yakson Korean Medicine Clinic in Icheon.
Lately it seems many more people
are searching for an Icheon back clinic.
Among those who come into my exam room,
some find their lower back so stiff in the morning that they cannot get straight up out of bed,
and only manage to lift themselves up
after first rolling onto their side.
When they bend forward to wash their face,
many describe it as a sharp electric jolt
running from the lower back down into the buttock and leg.
Many describe it exactly that way.
"Doctor, when I wake up in the morning
my lower back is stiff like cement.
It only loosens up after I move around for a long time."
"When I bend over, it shoots down toward my buttock
with a sharp tingling—is this a disc?"
"It gets a bit better with treatment, but every morning it's the same again.
I worry whether this will last my whole life."
Every time I hear words like these, my heart grows heavy.
Pain that repeats every morning
wears down not only the body but the mind as well.
Today I want to talk about exactly that—
the causes behind a back that stiffens every morning
and the sharp pain that keeps coming back,
and how it can be resolved.
Let me lay it out for you.
First, let me say one thing:
just because an MRI shows a bulging disc
does not necessarily mean surgery is required.
In many cases, once the exact cause is pinpointed,
there is plenty of room for improvement without surgery.
In today's post
I'll cover these three things.
1. Why does my back stiffen every morning?
2. How can the sharp shooting pain be brought under control?
3. What if it gets better and then hurts again?
For everyone who has lost sleep
while looking into an Icheon back clinic,
I hope this post is of help.
Why does my back
stiffen every morning?
When you lie in the same position all night,
blood supply to the muscles and ligaments around the lower back decreases.
In a healthy back,
it loosens up quickly once you get up and move a little.
But if there is swelling or inflammation
around the disc,
the swelling worsens overnight,
and in the morning the back feels stiff
and rigid like cement.
That is why, when I begin treatment,
I first perform an ultrasound examination.
After checking with my own eyes
the condition of the muscles, ligaments,
and soft tissue around the lower back,
I accurately identify where the swelling is
and which tissue has been damaged.
This matters because even with the same symptom of "morning stiffness,"
the location of the underlying cause differs from person to person.
Because I treat while watching the screen,
the pharmacopuncture goes into exactly the right spot,
and the treatment takes effect faster.
How can the sharp shooting pain
be brought under control?
A sharp, tingling sensation running from the buttock down to the leg
when you bend your back or cough
is a classic symptom that appears when a disc bulges out
and irritates the surrounding nerves.
Yet a large part of this pain
is often caused not by direct compression of the nerve,
but by the swelling and inflammation
that develop around it.
At Kyunghee Yakson Korean Medicine Clinic in Icheon,
we treat this process step by step.
First, relieving the swelling.
After confirming the location with ultrasound,
I place the pharmacopuncture precisely
to calm the swollen tissue,
and release muscle tension with acupuncture and cupping.
Second, restoring function.
Once the pain has eased,
we combine electroacupuncture, physical therapy, moxibustion, and more
to help the back take on
its proper role again.
In acute cases, the pain noticeably decreases within a week;
in chronic, long-standing cases, steady treatment is needed.
What if it gets better
and then hurts again?
In truth, this question
is the one that pains me most.
"It's fine while I'm coming to the clinic, but once I stop it hurts again."
People who relapse often
mostly tend to stop treatment
the moment the pain disappears.
It's as if the fire has been put out
but the embers are still left behind.
That is why the third stage,
preventing recurrence, matters most.
Even after the pain is gone,
we must go all the way through the process
of reinforcing the weakened tissue
so the same problem does not repeat.
Having seen patients for many years
here in Changjeon-dong, Icheon,
this is something I truly want to tell you.
"Not hurting now" and
"not hurting again"
are completely different things.
There are people who especially need this treatment.
Office workers who sit for long hours
Those who often lift heavy loads
Parents raising children, who carry and hold them
Older adults who, with age, feel their back stiffening more and more each morning
Let me sum up today's talk.
One,
a back that stiffens every morning is
caused by swelling and inflammation around the disc,
and seeing the cause precisely with ultrasound
is the start of treatment.
Two,
the sharp pain is only properly controlled
when treated step by step,
from relieving swelling to restoring function.
Three,
not being in pain is not the end—
real treatment goes all the way to not being in pain again.
For those who keep facing a back that stiffens every morning
and sharp pain that repeats,
and are looking for an Icheon back clinic:
please don't keep worrying about it alone—
I encourage you to come in for an examination.
This has been Director Seo Se-wook of Kyunghee Yakson Korean Medicine Clinic in Icheon.
Thank you.
[This is how I treat pain.]
Learn about the treatment philosophy of Kyunghee Yakson Korean Medicine Clinic
[Things you were curious about before getting treatment at a Korean medicine clinic]
I'll tell you everything.
For those who have only been told
that it's degenerative and there's nothing to be done,
I've written this for you.
[Clinic Hours]
Mon, Wed, Fri 9:00-20:00 (reception closes at 19:00)
Tue, Thu 9:00-18:00 (reception closes at 17:00)
Lunch break (13:00-14:00)
Saturday 09:00-14:00
(reception closes at 13:00; open through with no lunch break.)
Closed every Sunday.
[Directions]
Address: 1F Baeyoung Building, 178 Yeongchang-ro, Icheon
Silver Intersection (former KEB/Hana Bank site)
Across from NC Department Store,
the building right next to Davich Optical Icheon Jungang branch
About 100m
toward Shinhan Bank/Kookmin Bank
[By Public Transit]
Gwango-dong stop:
Go straight about 200m toward Shinhan/Kookmin Bank
Shinhan Bank stop:
Go straight toward Gwango Market,
then it's across from the central intersection
[Parking]
When using the Gwango Market public parking lot,
1 hour of free parking is available.
Icheon Back Clinic — If Morning Stiffness and Sharp Shooting Pain Keep Coming Back
Kyunghee Yakson Korean Medicine Clinic
1F Kyunghee Yakson Korean Medicine Clinic, 178 Yeongchang-ro, Icheon-si, Gyeonggi-do
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