BANGKOK, Dec 9 — A luk thung (Thai country music) and mor lam (northeastern Thai folk music) singer passed away on Sunday morning following three massage sessions, including two with neck massages, at a Thai massage shop in Udon Thani province.
According to the Bangkok Post, Chayada Prao-hom, from Guitar Record, was declared dead at around 6.00am at a hospital Udon Thani due to a blood infection and brain swelling.
It was reported that Chayada’s boyfriend said after a performance on October 5, Chayada complained of a backache and asked him to take her to the massage shop in Udon Thani.
“After the massage she started to feel numb on half of her body and could not use her left arm. Later she could not move her whole body,” the boyfriend, who requested anonymity, was quoted as saying.
On November 6, Chayada reassured her fans about her health on her Facebook page, revealing that she had visited the same massage shop three times in about a month.
During the first two visits, she was treated in the same room by the same masseuse, who also twisted her neck. On the third visit, a different masseuse attended to her.
In her post, Chayada, who was from Udon Thani, shared that she initially went to the shop for a shoulder ache. However, two days after her first massage, she began experiencing pain at the back of her head and took painkillers.
A week later, she felt numbness in her arm. By two weeks after the second visit, the pain and stiffness in her body worsened to the point where she was unable to turn over in bed.
“My mom is a masseuse, and I studied Thai massage since I was a kid,” Chayada wrote. “I love massage so much and so I don’t have any suspicion just yet. I thought this (the full-body ache) was simply an effect from me getting the massage again.”
During her third visit, Chayada said she was treated by a masseuse with a heavy hand, which resulted in swelling and bruising all over her body that lasted for a week.
Despite continuing to take painkillers, she began to experience tingling in her fingers and felt a constant fluctuation of hot and cold sensations.
The numbness gradually spread to her torso and worsened. Two weeks later, she was unable to lift her right arm, and by the time of her post, she could use less than 50 per cent of her body.
“I want my story to be a lesson for those who like being massaged a lot. I must recover. I want to work already,” Chayada wrote.
On November 18, her condition took a turn for the worse, leaving her unable to move or care for herself, and she remained bedridden.
The Bangkok Post reported that Arkom Praditsuwan, deputy director-general of the Department of Health Service Support (HSS), had said that department officials would investigate whether the massage shop Chayada visited had the proper accreditation and licensing to provide the service.
He added that it was important to determine whether the massage treatment Chayada received was in line with the standard practices for Thai traditional massage.
He also noted that some practitioners employ different techniques that may not meet established standards, which could lead to injuries.
The Post also spoke to Prof Dr Thiravat Hemachudha, an advisor to the College of Oriental Medicine at Rangsit University, who warned that violently twisting or flicking the neck during neck stretching, exercise, or massage could cause damage to the carotid and vertebral arteries, which supply blood to the brain.
He emphasised that injury to the vertebral artery, in particular, could result in a stroke, a common cause of paresis.
He added that the risk increases with the force applied during these movements, and repeated actions over time could not only harm the nerves but also the blood vessels in the neck.
