I recently got a freelance writing gig with the Daegu Medical Tour, an organization that promotes medical tourism in Daegu. Part of the job is that I get to experience different low-key medical treatments and write about them. My first such visit was to Hoo Oriental Medicine Clinic in downtown Daegu.

Now, I've never done anything remotely oriental medicine-y, so this was all new to me. The crux of oriental medicine is that you treat the whole body, not the problem itself. Illness is an imbalance in the body and the treatment restores the balance.

I arrived downtown a little early so I grabbed a waffle off a street stand while I waited (belgian waffles with various syrups are a big thing here. They can vary from eggo-esque to gourmet. This one was roughly your continental breakfast at Holiday Inn variety for $2). 

The clinic was very clean and peaceful, and the staff was very professional. They asked if I was having any problems and I explained that my back has been problematic for the past few months (thanks to a stone-hard bed and a terrible desk chair at work. These issues have both been remedied in the past couple weeks and there is a big difference!). The first thing I did, after changing into the clinic's pajamas, was get a series of tests done to determine things like my body's imbalances, my BMI, blood pressure, my body's tolerance of stress, and the strength of my immune system. Had I known I was going to get tested for such things, perhaps I wouldn't have stuffed a waffle in my face 20 minutes beforehand.

The BMI machine was especially interesting. I remember having to do math to figure out my BMI in high school, but now I guess you can just type in your weight and height and then stand on a machine.

For this test, I had a bunch of wires clipped on me as they monitored my heart rate. I also got a special kind of picture taken of my back in a different room.

After the tests, I went to the doctor's office for a consultation. She went over the tests' results, most of which sucked. Yes, I know I have too much fat (despite losing somewhere between 15-20 pounds since coming to Korea). I have a lot of muscle, though, so the ratio is pretty good. Basically I could stand to lose another 20 pounds and I'll be good to go. Based on the test results, my immune system sucks and my body has a below average ability to deal with stress. Also, looking at the picture they took, my shoulders are not perfectly aligned and there is a definite imbalance in my back, which would explain the back pain. This was a ton of information gathered in a few short minutes. It's hard to believe that such quickly-attained numbers can say so much about my body.

The doctor recommended acupuncture, which would improve my immune system, help with allergies, and alleviate some back pain. I'd never gotten acupuncture, and I was curious to try it, so she assured me that it wouldn't hurt and I happily agreed to the treatment.

The first thing they wanted to do was improve my blood circulation, so first I relaxed in an herbal foot bath.

Not too bad so far. Eventually they came and wrapped a hot stone around my stomach that felt really nice. Next, they took me to a room for a leg massage. They zipped my legs into this machine that was like a giant blood pressure tester that squeezed and released with air pressure. That also felt nice after awhile. I turned around on the bed and they put these suction cups on my back that vibrated. This was the best part of the evening. It felt really nice on my back. I also kind of felt like Dr. Octopus with these thick tubes connected to my back laying face down on a medical bed.

Finally, we came to the acupuncture. The needles are really small and only sting lightly for a split second when they put it in (although the one closest to my arm hurt more and longer. The feeling eventually went away). They pulsed some low electricity though the needles to my shoulders, causing my muscle to spasm. That was a little weird, but it didn't really feel like anything: just like any other time your muscle might twitch. I laid there for 15 minutes like this until they came and took out my needles (again, occasionally a very small sting, but nothing to complain about).

That's all there was too it. With the National Health Insurance, this came down to 17,000 won (about $17). Follow up trips, if I choose to follow the doctor's advice and make weekly trips, would cost about the same or less. Maria wants to try it too and I think she would really like it. I don't know if I would come every week, but I could definitely see myself making more visits. It's too early to tell how much relief the treatment gave me, but if nothing else it was very relaxing and quiet and there weren't many people there. That alone is worth 17,000 won in Korea.