Una Cho, Licensed Acupuncturist

Licensed Acupuncturist

I was born in Korea and grew up there until I was 23 years old. I have many memories of my years in Korea. My grandfather was a great acupuncturist and herbalist. When I was 7 years old, I was running around and playing with my friends in the neighborhood, my grandfather would shout my name out loud and say, “Una, come and take a look at this.” He said that if the patient’s earlobe had a 30-degree line, the patient had high blood pressure, and if the patient’s face was exceptionally red, he said there was a problem with the patient’s heart. After looking at the tongue, he said that if the tip of the tongue is red, there is heat in the heart, so this person should receive treatment mainly for the heart. When I was young, I was so interested that when my grandfather identified the patient’s pulse, I followed suit. My grandfather seems to have loved me very much because he taught me eastern medicine, which he didn’t teach my father or my father’s siblings.

Another memory is that my grandfather always read books in the morning and evening. It was usually a Korean medicine book. When I woke up in the morning and got ready for school, my grandfather’s room was always lit, and my grandfather’s shadow in the light was always sitting at his desk and reading a book.

As the years passed and I studied eastern medicine, I remembered so many things my grandfather taught me before, and it felt like everything was fitting together like a puzzle. Every time I studied eastern medicine, I felt a desire to know more, and I thought that if I knew more, I could help patients more, so I started studying Korean, Chinese, and Japanese acupuncture. And like my grandfather, I have developed a habit of meticulously checking the face, ears, tongue, stomach, hands, and pulse when a patient comes. By doing so, I always try to find the cause of the disease. I go around saying to people that becoming an acupuncturist is a really awesome thing to me. It is meaningful to inherit the skills of my grandfather, and when I see patients getting better, I feel really proud. I am very certain that my grandfather is very proud of me in heaven.

I can relate to one of many recent successful treatments for my patients. I recently saw a patient who sprained her ankle and came to the clinic with a swollen ankle and complained of pain and unable to walk. As a result of a head-to-toe checkup, it was found that this person had a past lung medical history, which weakened her sinews and tendons and made her easily sprain her ankle. So, when I treated her for ankle pain, I also treated her to strengthen her lungs, and the pain dropped from 9 to 1 on the spot. In such a case, the symptoms can be relieved quickly by using acupuncture to reinforce lung function and also by combining treatment to lower ankle pain. Patients who have improved after several treatments have expressed their gratitude to me, and I am forever grateful to my grandfather for allowing me to help people as an acupuncturist.