Chapter 8 - Trigger Point
“Laura-ssi, for now, let's try the part that isn't going well just one more time.”
“Right now?”
“Yes, right now, in front of me.”
“……”
Laura struck a pose with an awkward expression and danced.
Watching her, Baek Hyeon-woo nodded his head.
“Just as I thought.”
“What do you mean, just as you thought?”
“It seems there's a difference in the mobility of your left and right shoulders.”
In Baek Hyeon-woo's view, the movement of her right shoulder seemed uncomfortable.
“It seems your right shoulder doesn't go up as well as your left shoulder.”
“I-Is that so? I can't really tell.”
Laura raised and lowered both her arms, comparing them.
But she tilted her head with an expression that said she couldn't really tell.
“It doesn't particularly hurt when I raise my arms...”
“It's a subtle difference. That's probably why it was difficult for the trainer to identify the cause.”
“So you're saying you can know something that even the trainer doesn't?”
“Laura-ssi, could you extend your arms forward?”
Baek Hyeon-woo took an 'arms straight out' posture.
After confirming that Laura was reluctantly following him, this time he raised his arms slowly upwards while keeping them extended forward.
“With your arms extended forward, let's slowly raise them upwards as if you're being punished.”
“Like this?”
“Isn't there a difference between the left and right?”
Laura, who was raising her arms as if being punished, made a slightly surprised expression.
“The right side feels a little awkward.”
“Right now, there is a restriction in the flexion of your right shoulder.”
The motion of extending your arms forward and raising them above your head.
This is called flexion of the shoulder joint.
“Your left arm goes up above your head naturally and well. Based on the attention stance, it goes up a full 180 degrees. But your right arm probably feels like it's getting caught from around 150 degrees.”
“Ah… I think you might be right.”
Laura nodded her head while raising her arms up and down.
“This is a phenomenon that occurs when the muscle called the latissimus dorsi is stiff.”
“The latissimus dorsi?”
“It's the muscle on the back that holds onto the shoulder.”
The latissimus dorsi is a muscle that covers the lower part of the back and the waist, and its end is attached to the humerus.
When the latissimus dorsi is tensed, it pulls the humerus towards the back, which is the opposite direction of shoulder flexion.
Therefore, if there is a problem with the latissimus dorsi, a restriction occurs in the shoulder's flexion movement.
“If the latissimus dorsi is stiff, the arm doesn't go up well. It goes up fine midway, but when you try to raise it all the way above your head, you feel discomfort.”
“Ah…”
“So we just need to release the latissimus dorsi.”
Saying that, Baek Hyeon-woo approached the entrance of the practice room.
And he raised his right arm above his head and grabbed the left doorframe.
“Watch what I do.”
While firmly holding the left doorframe, he relaxed his body and let it hang down limp.
His torso was dropping downwards while his right arm was fixed to the left doorframe, so the latissimus dorsi connecting his back and arm was stretched out.
It was a Doorway stretch in the Upper hand position.
“Do the same and focus on the feeling of your back stretching. Give it a try.”
“This pose feels kind of funny.”
“You have to do it even if it's funny.”
“……”
With a half-believing, half-doubting expression, Laura stood next to the door.
And she took the same pose as Baek Hyeon-woo.
“Don't try to hide your armpit. Rather, do it with the feeling of showing off your armpit.”
“This pose is really weird...”
“Let's just do it three times for 20 seconds each.”
While grumbling, Laura did as she was told, took the pose, and stretched.
If the pain and movement restriction were severe, he wouldn't end it with just a short stretch like this but would have to do a proper treatment.
But for Laura, this would be enough.
“It's all done.”
“Is it over?”
“Take the 'arms straight out' pose like before and then try raising your arms.”
“……”
Laura did the shoulder flexion movement again.
As she raised her arms above her head like before... Laura made a surprised expression.
“Huh?”
She repeated the same movement several times.
And looking at Baek Hyeon-woo, she spoke urgently.
“The feeling from before is gone!”
“As the latissimus dorsi stretched, the shoulder joint's flexion movement became smoother.”
Confirming that it went up naturally to 180 degrees, Baek Hyeon-woo nodded his head.
“Alright, now let's practice the part you were stuck on earlier again.”
“Ah, I understand.”
Laura urgently grabbed her phone and played the song.
~For me~
Laura, having taken her position, began to dance to the song.
Watching her, Baek Hyeon-woo threw out words of encouragement.
“There are no longer any factors hindering your movements, Laura-ssi. Move your body freely and naturally.”
“Yes…!”
Laura performed the movements fluidly.
Thinking that there was no longer a problem, the movement of her arms and legs in all her motions also became more natural.
It was thanks to the unnecessary tension disappearing.
Moving her body freely, she entered the part that the trainer had emphatically pointed out.
It was the part that had never gone her way before.
The more she concentrated on it, the more of a mess it became, and it even affected the parts before and after.
However, now she could perform the movements with confidence.
Seo Na-eun's movements that she remembered replayed in her mind.
I can do it just the same, convinced of that, Laura stretched out her right arm.
“Ah…!”
She wasn't filming, but she knew by instinct.
She did it. She did it perfectly without being off in the slightest.
Convinced of that, Laura turned her head.
“You did well.”
Seeing Baek Hyeon-woo smiling and nodding, Laura raised her hand.
Noticing what Laura wanted, Baek Hyeon-woo also raised his hand.
Slap!
The two of them slapped their palms together.
With their arms raised high, smiling brightly.
* * *
“You're really not in any kind of relationship with Na-eun unnie, right?”
“I'm telling you we're not.”
Walking on the way to the dorm, Baek Hyeon-woo answered Laura's questioning.
“As I just explained, I only fixed the discomfort in her ankle.”
“So the reason Na-eun unnie's dancing suddenly got better was thanks to you, Hyeon-woo oppa...”
“It's a bit of a misstatement to say it was thanks to me. I only helped Na-eun-ssi so that she could display her original skills.”
“Don't bother acting all humble.”
Laura said as she walked with light steps.
“Because for me too, what was blocked got released today thanks to you, Hyeon-woo oppa.”
“To be honest, there's also the aspect that her condition wasn't very severe, so it improved quickly.”
Saying that, Baek Hyeon-woo checked Laura's status window once more.
—-------
[Laura]
Vocal: B
Dance: B
Visual: A
Potential: S
Body Condition: 80%
Mental Condition: 75%
Her Mental Condition, which had dropped to the 30% range, had improved to 75%.
Meanwhile, her Body Condition had only slightly increased from 75% to 80%.
—-------
‘So it's not like the Body Condition skyrockets just because one spot gets better. Rather, is it that as the problem area improves, they regain psychological stability, and their Mental Condition can rise even more significantly?’
During the last rehearsal, She's On's Yuri had a Body Condition of 80%.
Even though her ankle ligament was on the verge of rupturing.
Seeing that Yuri had performed the rehearsal perfectly right up until the rupture, the condition stat didn't seem to simply mean her physical state, but rather a stat indicating 'the state of how well she can display her true skills as a singer'.
From what he had observed so far, it seemed that if the condition was 90% or higher, a plus correction was attached to Vocal, Dance, or Visual.
Conversely, it seems a minus correction is attached if it falls below 70%.
Laura currently has a Body Condition of 80% and a Mental Condition of 75%.
Even though it doesn't reach 90%, it's on the quite good side.
That's why she was able to dance in a much better form than before.
‘In the end, you could say that the problem area is a kind of trigger.’
In physical therapy, there is a concept called a Trigger point.
It's a term that refers to the point in a muscle that provides the cause for symptoms to arise.
Some trigger points are in an Active state and cause continuous pain or motor impairment.
Meanwhile, there are also trigger points in a Latent state, which are fine normally but become activated by some kind of catalyst and cause problems.
These trigger points are nothing more than very small spots, but if you apply precise stimulation to these points, the entire muscle is released, and the overall symptoms improve dramatically.
Couldn't the symptoms that the idols have also be called a type of trigger point?
Just now, when Baek Hyeon-woo released Laura's latissimus dorsi, that became the catalyst for even her mental state to stabilize, and her overall performance improved dramatically.
This bears a resemblance to the trigger point theory, which improves the overall condition by applying precise stimulation to a specific point.
You could say it was similar when he treated Seo Na-eun's ankle last time.
Also, Yuri's ankle from last time could be said to be similar to a latent trigger point.
Yuri had a big problem with her ankle, but at the time of the rehearsal, she was maintaining her condition well, so it was possible for her to show a perfect performance.
But while performing a fierce dance, excessive stimulation was applied, activating the trigger called 'ankle', and everything collapsed.
‘Resolving the part that becomes a trigger point is important, but... is it also important to find the latent trigger points that could blow up like a big bomb later?’
It had somehow become interesting.
To think that caring for idols is similar to doing physical therapy.
‘This manager life, it might be worth trying.’
As he was having such thoughts, Laura suddenly tugged on his sleeve.
“Hyeon-woo oppa, are you listening to me?”
“Ah, I'm sorry.”
He had been lost in thought and hadn't been able to properly respond to what Laura was saying.
“What were we talking about?”
“I said you can speak comfortably. The manager who quit a while ago also spoke informally, so you should speak comfortably too, Hyeon-woo oppa.”
Come to think of it, her form of address had already changed to 'Hyeon-woo oppa' before he knew it.
“Um... but I think it would be strange if I only speak informally to you, Laura-ssi.”
“Then just speak informally to the other members too.”
“If I do that all of a sudden, it's too rude.”
“Wow, you're putting up a wall.”
Laura slapped Baek Hyeon-woo's back with her palm.
Her hand was quite stinging, so his back tingled.
But wasn't this also proof that Laura had opened her heart to Baek Hyeon-woo?
“I'll try it slowly, slowly.”
Baek Hyeon-woo answered that way with a calm demeanor.
Since his life as a manager had only just begun.
* * *
‘He's a really strange person.’
After parting with Baek Hyeon-woo, who had escorted her to the front of the dorm, Laura went inside.
‘Even when I tell him to speak informally, he keeps using formal speech.’
Most of the managers she had met so far had tried to speak informally first themselves.
It seemed they all preferred to use informal speech with idols.
But Baek Hyeon-woo, even when Laura told him to speak informally first, continued to use formal speech.
‘At first, he felt very suspicious, but now that I see him, he seems to have a pretty diligent and serious personality.’
While working as an idol, Laura had met several road managers.
But she had never seen a style like Baek Hyeon-woo's.
He seems to be good at treatment too, and isn't he a pretty good person as a manager?
‘His face is also on the handsome side... Ah, I guess this doesn't really matter.’
Anyway, Laura quite liked Baek Hyeon-woo.
She came to hope that he would continue to be Newstarz's manager in the future.
Since Laura was usually the type to not trust others easily, this was quite an exceptional case.
‘And he wasn't in a strange relationship with Na-eun unnie either.’
It was a fortunate thing that Baek Hyeon-woo had no relationship with Seo Na-eun.
If they really were in that kind of relationship, she would have used any means necessary to make them break up.
Laura felt a sense of relief at the fact that she didn't have to do that.
If the two of them were nothing to each other, then Laura could get close with Baek Hyeon-woo without any worries.
Where should I ask him to look at tomorrow? Thinking such thoughts, Laura hummed a tune.
“Laura.”
“Gah?!”
Laura screamed at the voice that suddenly came from the darkness.
Seo Na-eun was standing blankly in the unlit living room.
“N-Na-eun unnie? You weren't asleep?”
“Yeah.”
They weren't that close, but Seo Na-eun was the leader Laura respected the most.
As she thought she should apologize for coming in so late past the designated bedtime and was about to bow her head.
“You seemed to be talking very friendly with Manager-nim outside earlier... What's your relationship? To come in after being together so late like this.”
“Pardon?”
Hearing her leader's colder-than-usual voice, Laura's eyes widened.