I have been experiencing severe neck and upper shoulder pains for like 6 months now. I think I first started early in 2012, but it was more frequent and intense since June 2012 thereabouts.
I started a new very deskbound job in mid April, so I am kinda thinking that what tipped the edge and caused the more frequent onset of the pains must have been the new change in my office environment where I spend 8-10 hours daily.
During a recent trip to Hua Hin, Thailand, for a friend’s wedding, I went for a massage and after lying flat on my tummy for like 30 mins and was asked to turn my head to the other side, I felt a very intense pain. I couldn’t move my head at all. The pain was all concentrated around my neck area.
I had to slowly get up and coax my head to move. It was such torture! :(
Even when it came to the usual weekend shopping, where we walk a little, shop a little, eat a little and even then, I felt really tired. It felt like my neck had spent so much effort supporting my head. And I had a headache as a result.
I knew I needed to seek help.
I bought heaps of Salon Pas, Yoko Yoko, and had them all tucked in a drawer in the office in hope that I could possibly seek pain relief in them. As you can probably guess, it didn’t help much.
I went to a Chinese TCM doctor as well and had heaps of needles poked into my neck and shoulders. It didn’t help either. :( The TCM doctor also told me that I had to look at my posture at work. Acupuncture can only help me with temporary relief but it wouldn’t be able to help me in the long term.
Strong Neck and Shoulder massage
I wanted a no-nonsense, straight forward superb massage for my neck and sholders. And the first place I thought of was Feethaven. Check out my review of them here. It was good. Very good. But it didn’t help with my pain. It led me to think that perhaps it had something to do with my spine instead of my muscles, since massages usually help relief muscle tension. Uh-oh, that made me worried cos that meant I might have to see a Chiropractor – which was generally deemed as a luxury.
TCM massage
Still, in my pursuit to find pain relief, many recommended me to try a TCM massage, which I did. The guy was a chinese national and he was way good. He knew exactly where to apply pressure and didn’t waste his energy on unnecessary areas of my back. After the massage it felt like I just finished a great gym workout. My muscles ached fabulously. 6 hours later, my neck started aching. So then it was pretty obvious I needed something else because it used to be that, I never needed massage on my shoulders and when I did, a massage always helped.
I started asking around. I made some inquiries at some clinics, looked up websites, reviews, and was discussing with several people on Chiropractic treatments. Rachie from TheCambelles.com then suggested I check out Kirolounge. Her friend works there and she could link me up with them and I’ll be well taken care of.
And so I made a call and had an appointment set up for a consultation. :)
I was greeted by Duane and Tiffany at Kirolounge’s cozy outlet at Golden Landmark Shopping Complex (just opp Raffles Medical Hospital along North Bridge Road) on my first appointment and Tiffany took me through a series of machine scans and simple movements. Then I met Dr. Shondelle, who explained my scan results to me.
The last step to my first consultation would be to get an X-Ray. It costs S$110 and it was all done quickly at Raffles Medical Hospital just in the next building. My next appointment would be to meet Dr. Brian to see the results of my X-Ray.
Stay tuned to my next post where I’ll share the results of my scans and X-Ray. I pray it’s not THAT BAD. :/
**
Kirolounge
Address: #03-33/34 Golden Landmark Shopping Complex
Contact: 6336 3738
**
Free Chiropractic Consultation at Kirolounge worth S$300! Just mention my name “Ju Ann/Blogger” when you call 6336 3738 to make an appointment and the friendly people at Kirolounge will set you up.
If you know of any other remedies I can try, do let me know here!