Unused Tissue Withers — But Filling It Back In Does Not Bring It Back to Life

Tissue long unused withers. It thins, secretion decreases, blood flow decreases, and sensation dulls.

This is true of any spot in the body. A joint long unused, a leg long unwalked, a mucous membrane long without stimulation. At first function drops a little, and then the tissue itself atrophies.

Up to here, anyone can guess. Then the answer seems obvious too. Just fill in what has dried up, surely? Send more blood, add more nutrition, supply more of the good things, surely?

I have thought about this point for a long time, and I have come to the conclusion that it is not that simple. Today I want to talk about that.

Atrophied tissue has also lost the strength to respond

When tissue atrophies, it is not only its size that shrinks.

The cells inside it are in a state where they have also lowered their processing capacity. They have reduced the machinery that makes energy, the machinery that clears out waste, and the machinery that handles sudden change, all together. It is similar to how a factory long unused cuts its workforce. Since there is little work to do now, the amount of work it can handle has also shrunk.

What happens if you suddenly push a lot into such tissue?

There is a well-established phenomenon worth referring to here. When blood begins to flow again into tissue that had been cut off from blood by a blocked vessel, there are cases where the tissue is damaged rather than recovering. As oxygen rushes in suddenly, reactive oxygen species pour out, and the tissue cannot handle it. In medicine this is called reperfusion injury. It is a problem actually dealt with in the treatment of myocardial infarction and cerebral infarction.

Up to here, this is established fact.

From here on is my interpretation. I believe that long-atrophied tissue also has a similar vulnerability. The intensity differs, but the principle is the same. If you increase supply alone into tissue that is not prepared to bear it, it can become a burden rather than a recovery.

So what is needed?

For tissue to come back to life, supply alone is not enough. I believe at least this much must come together with it.

First, signal. Cells work only when they receive the signal that "it is all right to work." Nerves send signals, hormones create conditions, and neighboring cells report on their state. In a place where this signal is cut off, only raw material piles up.

Second, movement. Tissue senses its own state by being pressed, stretched, and shaken. Bone becomes strong only when it bears load, muscle grows only when it is stretched, and blood vessels and lymph flow only when their surroundings move. Without movement, even supply cannot flow and stagnates.

Third, a way out. As much as what comes in, what goes out matters. If the veins and lymph cannot carry things away, what has newly come in pools in that spot and makes the tissue heavier.

Fourth, time. It takes time for atrophied tissue to regain its processing capacity. If you push things in faster than that pace, it cannot handle it.

So I do not say "I will put a lot of good things into you." That phrase is pleasant to hear, but it is far from what actually happens in the body.

A good prescription is not built from "adding" herbs alone

This is the point I always check when I look at a prescription.

When you take apart a prescription that restores the body, it does not contain only herbs that push in. Where there is something that pushes, there is something that receives; there is something that draws out what has pooled; there is something that loosens what has hardened and opens the way; and there is something that holds the action so it lasts a long time rather than bursting all at once.

Every time I see this composition, I feel that the old people knew that "supply alone will not do." A prescription that only pushes hard becomes, in a body that cannot handle it, harmful instead.

This is why the power of herbal medicine does not come from the strength of any single component. It comes from acting a little at a time along several paths at once, returning the environment in which the tissue sits to within a manageable range. When the environment returns, the tissue recovers on its own. The medicine does not recover it in its place. (What Herbal Medicine Actually Does)

This is also why you should not understand a tonic (boyak) merely as "a medicine that fills in good things." (Is a Tonic a Medicine That Fills In Good Things?)

So what I look at first in the consultation room

For a person who comes saying they have no energy, I do not fill them in right away.

I first look at whether this body is in a state that can accept it. Whether digestion works, whether what has pooled drains, whether the person can move, whether they sleep. If you push good things into a body where these do not work, it becomes bloated and stuffy and, if anything, sinks further. I believe this is exactly the reason there are people who say "I took a tonic and got indigestion," or "I felt worse after taking it."

I first prepare the readiness to receive, and then I fill in. Change the order, and the same medicine acts differently.

When you should go to a hospital first

• When you keep losing weight and energy for no particular reason — checking the cause, such as thyroid, diabetes, anemia, or a tumor, comes first.
• When muscle noticeably wastes away and swallowing becomes hard or speech becomes slurred — a neurological examination is needed.
• When the leg withers and the calf hurts when you walk, forcing you to rest — it may be a vascular problem.

Atrophy that has a cause must be addressed from the cause first.

Finally

Pouring water on dry ground does not make grass grow right away. The ground must be able to receive the water, the roots must be alive, and there must be sunlight and time. The body is the same.

Before I ponder what more to add, I first look at what this body can bear right now. I believe that is the fastest path — one that does not rush recovery, yet arrives soonest.