As I get older, I find that I often wake up with a sore neck or shoulder, even though I’ve tried 10 different types of pillows. In the daytime, I carry my stress in my neck and shoulders, leading to headaches and sometimes nerve pain that travels down my back or arm. I understand it’s a common malady, especially for people who work at computers all day or anyone who does repetitive bending and twisting, like construction workers. If allowed to go undiagnosed or untended, pain in the neck, shoulder and back can lead to chronic ailments and sometimes permanent numbness or paralysis.
While visiting Dr. Koh for my arthritis treatment, I mentioned a headache and he quizzed me on how I felt and what I thought contributed to the headache. Did I have an uncomfortable sensation in my neck, upper back and/or shoulders? Was I mentally foggy with my headache? Where did my head ache? He asked about working at the computer and about the rigidity of my shoulders, and I told him that it was my shoulders where my stress seemed to center itself. He also checked to find any unpleasant sensations like weakness, shooting pain, a buzzing down into my arms, to my wrists or hands, which I hadn’t thought about, but did in fact have. We adapt too easily to discomfort!
I told Dr. Koh I thought the problem would go away eventually, but when he hears about a pain or unpleasant sensation, he wants to get at the root of it, and fix it.
He suggested some stretching exercises and put me on a neck extender that held my head up straight for 15 minutes at a time and the constant buzzing down my arm stopped. I did neck stretches and the pain lessened. Of course, he treated me with acupuncture, and some of his healing arts like cupping, electro-stimulation and herbs. In one day, the headache was gone. After a week, my neck was supple, and the shoulder pain gone.
I am still in awe that the simple placement of minute needles in the right places can alleviate pain, but it does. As I keep saying, Dr. Koh makes miracles happen.
For more information, please call for a complimentary consultation with Dr. Joseph Koh at 661-257-1233.