However, if you receive an irregular and unprofessional massage in this key part of the cervical spine, the risk is unpredictable!
Receiving a massage from a good friend, the woman was paralyzed.
Ms. Pan from Quanzhou is 48 years old and has been working as a copywriter.
Facing the computer every day and working at the desk for a long time will inevitably lead to some "occupational diseases" of shoulder and neck discomfort.
Not long ago, at a friend's party, Ms. Pan talked about her sore neck and sore shoulders. A friend heard this and said that she had recently learned several massage techniques aimed at the shoulders and neck, which could help Ms. Pan to relieve discomfort.
Out of trust, Ms. Pan asked her friend to have a massage. Just when my friend was doing cervical rotation, she only heard two sounds of "Ka" and "Ka", and Ms. Pan immediately felt her arm numb and tingling like an electric shock.
Because the symptoms were not particularly serious at that time, Ms. Pan took painkillers to rest after returning home. Who knows that the next day, Ms. Pan felt that her legs were weak and she could not walk, so she quickly sent her family to the hospital.
After diagnosis, the doctor judged that it was due to improper massage techniques, which led to Ms. Pan's cervical spinal cord injury. Fortunately, timely treatment, Ms. Pan's symptoms gradually improved.
It is not uncommon to find similar incidents in online search, especially the massage involving cervical and lumbar vertebrae, so be careful!
(Image from Baidu search screenshot)
Random massage is risky!
Many people suffer from dizziness, shoulder and neck pain, low back pain, body stiffness, numbness and tingling of limbs due to age, long-term strain of spinal joints and surrounding muscles, hyperosteogeny and disc herniation.
Massage, mainly through the corresponding techniques, releases tense and stiff muscles, relieves nerve compression to a certain extent, thus improving the symptoms of physical pain and discomfort.
However, as a serious TCM therapy, massage also has its contraindications and professional requirements.
Contraindications
People with fracture, tumor, tuberculosis, congenital malformation, spinal cord injury and other problems are not allowed to have massage.
These all need detailed examination (such as physical examination, nervous system examination, imaging examination, etc.). ) before massage.
professionality
Professional massage doctors need to have professional knowledge of bone and muscle anatomy, as well as accurate knowledge of acupuncture points and meridians in traditional Chinese medicine, in order to accurately treat and relieve discomfort symptoms, rather than bring secondary harm to the body.
Therefore, if you blindly carry out heavy manual massage and reduction, it may compress the vertebral artery, damage the spinal cord, lead to fractures, even paralysis, and even endanger life.
If you don't want to massage your shoulders and neck, you must go to a regular hospital to find a qualified specialist, make a standardized examination and diagnosis, and then rule out contraindications.
Of course, if there is only a little discomfort in the neck every day, there is no need to massage so much. A towel can help improve and ease!
A set of towel exercises to relieve shoulder and neck discomfort.
Prepare a clean towel, fold the towel vertically by 2-3 folds, about the width of a palm, and you can start to do the following actions:
Raise your head and lean back.
(The picture is slightly accelerated, so you can slow down and do what you can. )
Put the towel behind your neck and hold both ends of the towel with both hands;
Pull the towel obliquely upwards and lean backwards at the same time;
Keep this action for 5 seconds and repeat it 5 times;
You can stand or sit while stretching, but keep your upper body straight.
This action is mainly to exercise the muscles at the back of the neck, which can help improve the problem of the neck leaning forward.
02 cocked his head around
Lift a towel slightly, tilt your head to this side, hold it for 5 seconds, and then straighten it and switch to the other side;
Repeat 5 times on each side;
This action is mainly to exercise the left and right muscles of the neck, which can relieve the discomfort of stiff shoulder and neck.
03 double rib stretching
Stand up straight, legs shoulder-width apart, and hold both ends of the towel with both hands;
Straighten the towel, slowly raise your arm and straighten your arm up;
Keep the lower body still, exhale slowly and stretch the upper body alternately left and right;
Do it 20 times per side.
This action can relieve shoulder pain and prevent scapulohumeral periarthritis.
04 back stretching
Put the towel on your back and hold both ends of the towel in reverse (towel rubbing your back);
Straighten the towel and slowly close your hands from both ends of the towel to the middle;
Until your hands touch each other (if you can't touch them, don't use force, just reach your limit position), and keep it for 5~ 10 second. Slowly move your hands to both ends of the towel;
Change the towel in one direction and repeat the above actions;
Do 1 time in each direction as a group, and repeat 2~5 groups each time;
This action mainly exercises the muscle strength of the back, which can give more stable support to the cervical spine.