Scooping up an armful of exercise books and sitting at his desk for long hours was all in a day's work for 35-year-old Jason Wang, a secondary school language teacher.
Day after day, he would pick up or hand out assignments while balancing a heavy load in his other arm. When he was not teaching, Wang (name changed for patient confidentiality reasons) would be hunched at his desk for hours on end, grading stacks of assignments and tests.
While the hardworking Wang gave little thought to these habits, they were creating undue stress on his neck muscles, cartilage and bone. After more than a decade of repeated neck strain, Wang developed a persistent neck pain.
To relieve the discomfort, he turned to massage, physiotherapy, acupuncture, moxibustion and other forms of therapy. However, not only did the pain not go away despite his efforts, it spread to his left shoulder and shot down his arm to his fingertips.
After two years searching for a remedy, the pain suddenly intensified. It was so severe Wang could not sleep. He also experienced weakness in his left arm.
Wang bore the severe pain for two months before he finally sought medical attention from Dr Mak Kan-hing, a specialist in orthopaedics and traumatology at the Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital.