Raised as a youth in the Orient and the son of an engineer, I was surrounded by and immersed in science. Ironically, the paradigm reversed in early adulthood when disoriented by culture shock being thrust back into the West after an 18 year absence, I received guidance from a Grandmaster martial artist and Chinese medical practitioner of high esteem, Professor Wong Lun OBE AOM, 10th dan Tang So Do. He brought a semblance of balance to the disturbed young man. Years of martial and meditative training imparted an intellectual but also directly physical and palpable insight to the underpinnings of Eastern philosophy.

 

One day, as though he could foresee the suffering I was to later endure, the Professor looked me in the eye, grasped my forearm with one hand and shoved my shoulder with the other pointedly stating, "Problem in arm...come from shoulder!"

Much later and five years into a strenuous career as a cleaner, symptoms of elbow pain began to dog me. Despite cortisone injections, acupuncture treatment, forearm and wrist stretches, and a reduced workload the condition continued to deteriorate. Eventually, I said to my wife, "Honey, tomorrow these arms are going to lock up and I'll have to close the business."

​

"Oh go see that massage lady I go to!" she said in exasperation. That massage lady kept me in the workforce. A big "Ahh Haa" moment for me, "Ohhhh...so that's what massage is!!!"

​

Two years later I'm getting regular massage, have no pain and am still in the work force. However, the niggles are still there and I cannot work hard. It was only after much pain, disability and massage that I finally remember my teacher's words, "Problem in arm...come from shoulder."

​

What can I do? OK...let's try stretching the shoulders. So, each day before getting in the ute to go to work, I jumped up to hang off the rafters in the garage. It had been a long time since I played on the monkey bars. 

​

At first the pain and tightness under the arms was too much to hang full body weight. After a week the pain disappeared and so did the niggles. Once again I was able to work at full capacity. As long as I kept stretching and loosening the shoulders I was good.

​

This experience brought me to massage as a therapist today. It also taught me how blocked energetic Qi flow can affect adjacent regions of the body. Tightness due to injury, overwork, adverse weather, and emotional trauma blocks circulation. Tissue begins to thicken and harden causing pain and dysfunction and will not return to a healthy state until the blockage is cleared.

 

Restating the Professor's message to me four decades ago, "A fundamental  principle in physical therapy is a proximal block at hip or shoulder has a distal effect in the limb."