Back Massage Therapy - 'TUI NA'

MIL has a friend who is a Chinese Acupuncturist, "Yee See" (doctor). They knew each other for more than 10 years. She visited me and Brandon when baby was about 2 months old. At that time, we told her about Brandon's Torticollis condition and she said Chinese Massage Therapy (Tui Na) may also help to improve his condition. She had seen many infant patients with this condition when she was practising medicine in Shandong, North China. They had used Tui Na with those patients and seen good results. She recommended for us to bring Brandon to her when he is 6 months old.

Sometimes in mid of August, MIL spoke to her over the phone and she inquired about Brandon's condition. MIL told her that we've been going for the occupational therapy once a week and Brandon is doing a lot better than before. Xu "Yee See" proposed for us to bring Brandon to her office for a visit and she would evaluate his condition. MIL said she would get back to her for an appointment after she discuss with us.

I was a little skeptical at first about this so we didn't get back to her till two weeks later. For almost 4 months we've been going to the OT. We see some improvement but still his neck muscle wasn't strong enough. The OT Therapist keeps telling us we did a good job and it takes time to heal. She always bring comparison from the first week we were there for the therapy. Of course, we see the improvement from the first week. But if we compare to two weeks before, the improvement was very minor. And Brandon wasn't enjoying much of the therapy sessions. He cries from start till finish (about 30-40 mins). It is very sad to see him cry non stop for the OT. So then it made me decided that we should give Chinese Medicine a try.

Up till today, we've been to the therapy 5 times. Again the first three weeks, I didn't see any good result. But at least during the massage sessions, he wasn't crying. Xu "Yee See" used some baby lotion and massaged on his neck area plus right shoulder and right hand. She told us to do it daily at home. She also showed me the acupuncture 'points' (yuet wai) to enhance the healing process.

Last week, I told MIL that we wanted to stop the Tui Na therapy for a short time since there wasn't much improvement. Then out of sudden, Brandon got much better. For now, we'll be continuing the Chinese Therapy as well as the OT. Here are two of Brandon's most recent pictures (this week).

Remember I was having back problem recently due to taking care of the baby? After Brandon's Tui Na session, Xu "Yee See" asked me if I have any problem and I told her about my back. So she's been doing Tui Na on me too. It is so nice. First time, she massaged, used the vacuum suction cups (phat goon) and needles. Second time I told her I didn't want the needles so she just did the massage and vacuum cups. My back was feeling much better after that. On the third time, I told her my shoulder a little tired and she did the massage plus the vacuum cups on it. She said it must be from carrying Brandon too much (I know that). Here are pictures of my shoulder after the vacuum cups therapy. The darker the circles, the more blood clogged. This type of therapy also helped to improve blood circulation.