Health Blog
Written by Dr. Heo Ji-young. Each piece takes a single symptom and follows what is actually happening in the body.
Aching, Stinging, Cold — These Are All Different Words
There is no sensor fitted to the body dedicated to 'throbbing'. A feeling comes out of which few kinds of sensor have switched on and in what proportion. So the words a person uses are not clumsy description — they are a clue.
The Swelling Has Gone Down, but It Still Feels Stiff
That an injured place turns red, swells, and grows warm is not three faults but the outward look of one piece of work — the work of sending more blood to that place. Pain alone is switched on somewhat differently, and recovery falls behind not on the sending side but on the side that gathers back what was sent.
Your Back Hurts, and I Look at Your Foot
The body works out what posture it is in through sensation. When you are standing, the place that information leans on heavily is the sole of the foot and the ankle. When the information goes blurry, the calculation that keeps you balanced wavers, and the burden of that is usually felt somewhere else.
What You Can Tell by Laying a Hand on the Belly
When you breathe in, the pressure inside the abdomen rises. And that risen pressure helps with breathing out. The belly is not a load that gets in the way of breathing but the place holding one side of the breath, so laying a hand on it lets you feel whether that work is going well.
It Hurts More When the Numbness Lets Go
Straighten a leg you had crossed and it prickles; wake with an arm you slept on and it tingles. There is a reason it hurts more on the way back than while it was pressed, and I see the same grain in long-standing pain.
Where a Pushing Force Speaks to a Cell — Pressure Becomes a Signal
That the force of a hand pushing softens tissue, I have said before. But there is a further layer. In the cell membrane there are doors that notice the pressing force itself. The force does not end at physically moving the tissue — the cell reads that force and starts working.
What Happens at the Spot Where the Needle Goes In
What people who ask about acupuncture want to know is usually one thing — what actually happens at the spot the needle goes into. There is an answer, to a degree: a substance is released, the tissue responds, and it has been measured in people too.
They Say Rest Heals — But What If Resting Doesn't Heal You
Resting and recovering are not the same thing. Recovery is active work the body does, and for that work to run, the conditions must be right. Saying rest doesn't heal you is not a confession of laziness but important diagnostic information.
If the Painful Spot Is Actually Cold and Dull
Even the same pain feels different to the touch — some spots hot, some cold. Long-standing pain is often not an excess of inflammation but a case where even the repair response cannot rise. Rather than making a painful spot quiet, I look toward making it respond again.
When the Bone Has Healed but It Still Hurts
Why do swelling and pain remain when the X-ray says the bone has healed? Muscles, ligaments, joint capsules, small nerves, and lymphatic flow injured with a fracture can recover more slowly than bone; worsening, red, or hot pain needs orthopaedic care first.
When It Gets Especially Worse in Winter and at Dawn
If your pain worsens at three or four in the morning and in winter, it's no coincidence. At the time when the body's temperature and circulation are at their lowest, the weakest spot gives way first. I read the timetable of pain as a clue for treatment.
When your hands and feet tingle and you cramp often, but the tests are normal
Why do my hands and feet tingle and cramp at night when the tests are normal? Over-breathing can lower carbon dioxide, changing ionized calcium and nerve–muscle excitability; sudden one-sided tingling or weakness needs urgent care first.