Have you ever woken up with a stiff neck? That ache you feel around your shoulder when you rotate your head?

Yeah. I’ve been having those. For months. And I didn’t do anything about it.

I thought about going to a TCM (Traditional Chinese Medical) clinic and get it sorted out. But a previous experience left me rather traumatised, so I kept delaying it. For those who has been to a TCM clinic for aches or sprains, you probably know how they massage your pain-point vigorously and if you dare to scream out of pain or complain that it hurts, the physician usually rubs the spot with more force. There’s a Chinese saying, “To be relieved of pain, one must first endure the pain”. My Chinese is terrible but it’s something to that effect.

Anyway, I digress. I read about Shou Slimming’s V-Pain Relief Regenerate Treatment – a four-step treatment combining Chinese massage techniques with medical-grade aesthetic technology. and I knew I had to give it a try. Machine and waves treatments are usually very subtle and you can barely feel a thing. Exactly what I needed.

My experience at Shou Slimming

Pre-treatment

I walked into Shou Slimming Centre at Novena Square on a Monday afternoon and went through the usuals – A cup of tea and filling out a health assessment form before they led me into the treatment room. Then I changed into a pair of disposable underwear and have my weight and body composition taken on a machine. Nothing new – the machine is able to give me a complete reading of my BMI, fat and body fluid percentage, and your biological age.

My reading was all good, nothing to be worried about. They proceeded to take a photo of my waist and thigh and take the measurements too. If you’re thinking “why”, I have no idea either because I was there to treat my pain and not looking for a slimming treatment. Anyway, the standard procedure I supposed. They said they needed the reading to customise a treatment for me. I wasn’t in a hurry, so I obliged.

Finally, a consultant came in and informed me that because I’m still breastfeeding, I’m unable to go through the RF (radio frequency) machine treatment. (which is weird because I had an RF treatment at The Urban Clinic, 3 months after delivery, and it was approved by the doctor.) Maybe Shou Slimming policy errs on the safe side. I think it’s a good thing that they put customer’s health first. I was disappointed but no biggie.

Instead, they will put me through one of their Wellness programme which consists of a health pack, massage and I get to pick between a ‘gua sha‘ or ‘cupping‘ for the last treatment.

I freaked out. The very reason I went to Shou Slimming was that I didn’t want the pain that comes with Chinese style treatment. Based on my limited knowledge of gua sha and cupping, they look painful. Not to mention, they leave marks on the skin, sometimes for days. I tried to ask for alternatives but the consultant was pretty adamant that to treat my neck and shoulder aches, I HAVE to pick between the two.

Borderline pissed off at this point. I mean, when does a customer ‘have’ to only pick between two options she didn’t want?

Well, I was already undressed and my shoulder was screaming to be treated, so I went along with it and picked gua sha – it seemed like the less painful option.

The actual treatment

Herbal Pack

The herbal pack is, as the name suggests, a heated bag packed with Chinese Traditional Herbs, all eight of it, including Dang Gui. It helps with ‘warming up’ the nervous system and improve blood circulation. The therapist told me it also helps to reduce menstrual pain.

While it felt very good, it doesn’t do much to relieve the tension that was in my neck and shoulder. As they put it, it’s the warming up stage of the treatment.

TCM Massage

Three words – Oh so gooooood!

And it didn’t hurt! Alright, while it was sore in certain areas but it wasn’t painful. It actually felt really, really good.

The masseur was well trained and to put it simply – she is GOOD. She displayed a good understanding of how our body worked and she knew just which area to apply pressure and rubbed the shit out of my stuffed-up shoulder. She was also very generous in sharing her knowledge on how to maintain a healthy body according to TCM wisdom. She even shared a few massage techniques to do at home with the help of the husband. To which I replied, I’m lucky he didn’t ask me to massage him! Haha!

Anyway, I felt immediately better after the massage. I was able to fully rotate my neck without any problem!

Gua Sha

Ok, moments of truth. The part I most feared had come. The same masseur brought out two wooden spoon-like apparatus and announced it’s time for gua sha. Fist and jaw clenched, I braced myself for the pain.

Nothing.

The scraping felt like light brushing across my neck and across my back. Wait, what? That was it? I didn’t mind it one bit!

Apparently, the stiff neck I was experiencing is due to the flow of qi becomes stagnate. According to TCM, when our blood and lymphatic system are not flowing smoothly, it begins to slow down and eventually becomes stagnant. This will create an environment for bodily aches and diseases to develop.

Gua sha creates sufficient friction to raise the toxins that flood to the skin’s surface and the actual removal of disease in the body. It helps to release blockages and facilitates the lymph moving in the right direction. As your blood, lymph and qi circulation increases, it releases toxic waste from your deep cellular tissues.

Thankfully, there wasn’t much to scrape either. I’m in the pink of health and according to the masseur, I didn’t have much toxin/heat to expel, there was hardly any redness/bruises that usually comes with gua sha to be found on my skin. I was more pleased than pleased, if you know what I mean.

My Thoughts

Overall, I had a pleasant experience at Shou Slimming. What can I say, I walked in with a painful and stiff neck and walked out feeling lighter (weird because I wasn’t even treated for slimming) and healthier. The pain in my neck was gone and I gained a whole lot of knowledge on how to look after myself, the TCM way.

The staff at Shou, especially the masseur, were friendly, genuine and keen to help you achieve a healthy lifestyle. I’d recommend anyone seeking wholesome, non-invasive wellness treatments to pay Shou Slimming a visit!

*****

Shou Slimming