36yo Man Shockingly Suffers Sudden Stroke After Going For A Chinese Massage

Most of us probably don’t think too much about going to get a massage. After all, it’s super relaxing and it’s supposed to help you de-stress, right?

Well, you may want to be a little more careful about where you get your spa-day massages done, because this man’s experience of getting a massage may just send a chill up your spine!

As reported by China Press, a 36-year-old man went for a massage to help alleviate a headache. Now, if you’ve been to a massage therapist, you’ve probably been offered a few different types of massage techniques, each treating a specific symptom or discomfort. In the case of this man, who goes by the surname Zhao, he decided to get a ‘gua sha’, or coining massage. The incident happened in Guangzhou, China.

Source: Orchid Thai

For those who don’t know, ‘gua sha’ or coining massages are a form of massage therapy where the massage therapist uses a blunt instrument to ‘scrape’ against your muscles and cause tissue damage, with the belief that it will have medicinal benefits. There’s no scientific proof to back these claims, btw.

Source: Wikipedia (Photos used are for illustration purposes only.)

But anyways, after he got the massage done, Mr Zhao suddenly felt numbness in his left arm and the vision in his right eye went black, both of which were symptoms of a stroke! Rushing to the nearby hospital, doctors who were attending his case diagnosed him with an acute stroke and immediately called upon the hospital’s stroke team.

After an emergency examination, they found multiple infarct lesions inside of Mr Zhao’s right cerebral hemisphere! Infarctions refer to dead tissue that had been caused by inadequate blood supply.

As Mr Zhao was relatively young and had no underlying health problems, doctors were surprised that he would suffer from such a sudden stroke. So upon asking his family, doctors discovered that Mr Zhao had recently gone to have a ‘Gua Sha’ massage done. In fact, doctors still found the red marks typically associated with ‘gua sha’ massages on Mr Zhao’s neck.

Source: China Press

According to the hospital’s Director of Neurosurgery, it is suspected that Mr Zhao had suffered from carotid artery dissection, which is a common affliction that happens to people who do ‘Gua Sha’ massages. The condition is explained as a sudden separation of the carotid artery layers, which can lead to a stroke.

Source: MayoClinic (Photos used are for illustration purposes only.)

The doctor also adds that this condition is treatable if patients notice signs of an early stroke and rush to receive medical help immediately.

Jeez, who knew that a massage could lead to something so severe? We hope that Mr Zhao recovers quickly from his condition, and would like to remind all our readers to be extra careful when getting a massage done!