|
Some people shorten their lifespan by smoking; others kill themselves slowly with high-cholesterol foods. And then there are those who do so by holding down a desk job.
Yes, in today's working life - whether you are a banker, a secretary, an IT specialist, a graphic artist, or a writer - you are often glued to the chair in front of a computer.
Many of us sit at the desk for 10 hours or more - hardly ever getting up. Often our posture is not right.
And if the body could talk, three major parts would be screaming.
They are - the back, the neck and the shoulders.
Many of us tend to pop pain relievers as an instant solution, but it is not a long-term one.
So some office workers turn to tui na, a Chinese manipulative massage therapy, as an alternative.
Mr Lim Choon Huat, founder of Chien Chi Tow Healthcare, said tui na is ideal for managing pain conditions and assisting repair of soft tissue injury such as stiff neck, frozen shoulders and lower back pain.
He explained that in Chinese medicine, such pain simply means that your flow of energy or qi is blocked.
Mr Lim said 40 per cent of people seek tui na for neckaches; another 30 per cent for shoulder pain and the last 30 per cent for lower back pain.
Key factors
There are several factors that contribute to pain in the neck and shoulders - one is the computer.
Another is sleeping on the wrong pillow that does not give the right support.
Adviser to Chien Chi Tow, Dr Tan Jiaxing, who is also the deputy director of Guangxi Chinese Medicine Hospital, said: 'When computer monitors started invading offices, and more and more people began surfing the Net, more necks and shoulders suffered.'
'Keeping the neck and head constantly in the same position often results in stiffness of the muscles,' he said.
Inactivity also causes wear and tear of the muscle fibres - 'resulting in congestion of the qi, loss of elasticity and swelling'.
'The muscle fibres also clump together and get knotted up, resulting in stiffness and pain. Sometimes cervical spondylosis will result,' he said.
Cervical spondylosis is a combination of disc deterioration of the spine and degeneration of the cartilage.
Dr Tan said sometimes a fleeting high blood pressure, or 'white coat hypertension', will result because of the stress created by the pain.
White coat hypertension is a phenomenon in which patients show elevated blood pressure in certain settings, but not when recorded by themselves at home. It is believed that this is due to the anxiety some people experience during a visit to a clinic, for instance.
'For neck and shoulder pain, we first introduce a light massage to help relax the muscles. Then we work along the meridians (channels of energy) to stimulate the flow of blood and promote healing,' DrTan said.
He warned that physically weak patients and those with severe heart and lung disease should not seek tui na as a form of treatment.
Mr Lim added that tui na should be done by a reputable practitioner to get effective results.
One of his clients, he said, was unable to lift her right arm above her head because she had frozen shoulder syndrome.
'She had limited range of motion of her arm. After a couple of sessions of tui na, she was able to fully restore the movement in her right shoulder,' he said.
The client is regularly following up on the treatment to help her manage her condition, he said.
The length of massage varies according to the severity of the condition.
Mr Lim added a caution: 'We usually advise the client to go for an X-ray first to make sure there is no broken bone or underlying condition. Then they can come for tui na to help them treat and manage the pain.'
E-mail: juditht@sph.com.sg
'When computer monitors started invading offices, and more and more people began surfing the Net, more necks and shoulders suffered.'
- Dr Tan Jiaxing, deputy director of Guangxi Chinese Medicine Hospital
| 
