Stiff shoulder treatment

Patients waiting for their names to be called
at the registering counter

The Physiotherapy Department, Serdang Hospital.

Because I and my wife reached the hospital early at 8 am we were able to find parking inside the outdoor parking lot. On previous visits we had to park our car by the roadside and walk a distance to the entrance. Once inside the hospital we quickly made our way to the main entrance. As we are regular visitors we now know the ground floor layout of the hospital by heart.

A showcase of prosthetic limbs greet
the patient at the waiting area

The small entrance to the physiotherapy department opens up to a spacious waiting area. There are at least 6 rows of seats for patients to sit down while waiting for their names to be called. Once seated you can't help but view a glass showcase exhibiting a range of prosthetic limbs. After sitting down for about 15 minutes the nurse then called my wife to go to Room F6.

The small entrance opens up to a
spacious waiting area

There are separate rooms for different types of therapy and Room F6 is for patients with general pain ailments, considered as low frequency treatment. My wife who is suffering from pain due to a stiff shoulder probably belongs to this category of patients.


As I am not a patient I was not allowed to accompany my wife into the room. Looking in from the outside I saw some beds with curtains drawn and the inside appears to be clean and airy.

Room F6 where my wife underwent
therapy for pains in her left shoulder

After my wife was ushered into the room I took the break to walk along the aisle. I noticed many different types of rooms for different types of trauma treatment. Some rooms appear to be equipped with gymn type equipment. One room even has hydrotherapy facility.


While my wife was inside the room I chatted with a 60 year old man and later a middle aged woman.

The old man was there to seek treatment for his painful neck and shoulders. He told me that he had taken a lot of medication prescribed by doctors and consulted healers but all their treatments did not resolve his health problems except for physiotherapy which is giving him much relief. That is why he is repeating his regular visits to the clinic.

As for the middle aged woman she was here to look for relief for her painful spinal problem. However before I could find out more of her condition my wife was discharged from the room.

Asking about her treatment my wife told her a medical therapist demonstrated specific exercises to stretch and relax her shoulder and back muscles. The therapist asked her to do the specific exercises three times a day by her self and gave her a drawing illustrating the different types of exercises that she should do.

The next follow up appointment is in three weeks time.

An unlikely place

Tthe things I like about this self-service cafe situated in the most unlikely location is its clean and brightly lit environment , quiet ambient, reasonable price and the food menu. This cafe is actually a staff canteen located in the basement of the TCM Department of the KL Tung Shin Hospital. Though not serving exclusive vegetarian fare, it has a large variety of vegetable dishes in its lunch time menu to choose from. For lunch I ordered stirred fried Chinese spinach, stirred fried mixed bean and nuts and stewed tofu while my wife also ordered two types of vegetarian dishes.

I accompanied my wife to visit the hospital for acupuncture treatment for her stiff and painful shoulder condition. She had been complaining that she could not raise her hand above her head without feeling excruciating pain. I should think that some people would call this type of shoulder ailment as "frozen" shoulder. The 40 minutes of laying on the bed with needles stuck on her shoulder and hand brought immediate relief to her painful condition.

Since it was about 1.00pm after her treatment we adjourned to the cafe which is located next door to the TCM acupuncture clinic for our lunch. After so many repeat visits to the hospital for acupuncture therapy we have grown quite attached to this cafe.

What to expect in a 1-Malaysia Clinic

The sign board says this government run 1-Malaysia Clinic (Klinik 1-Malaysia) opens seven days a week, from Monday to Sunday. Must be a very busy and public service oriented clinic, or so I thought, operating every day of the week.

However, what I saw behind the tinted glass panels was not what I had expected of a normal operating clinic. Inside the comfortable and air-conditioned clinic the rows of blue colour fibre-glass seats and the electronic ticket counter board does give an appearance of a regular clinic. However appearance aside, on the morning of I and my wife's visit the clinic was practically empty of people except for one male visitor, the two of us and the three nursing staff that we saw. Perhaps more people would come in after noon time, I found myself rationalising the cause of the empty clinic.

Although the only visitor at that time there was leaving the premises the staff insisted my wife to punch a number. So she went through the motion of punching a ticket and sitting down to wait for someone to usher her into the consultation room for taking her blood pressure measurement.

Although there is a tag at the counter reminding the visitor to ask for an official receipt, the clinic didn't charge my wife for the consultation.

The name 1-Malaysia Clinic is a misnomer. Except for the male and female nurses the clinic has no doctor in attendance. It doesn't provide basic medical diagnosis and treatment nor prescribe medicine. It seems the only service the clinic provides is to take your blood pressure readings. Now I recall how a government doctor told me that 1-Malaysia Clinic doesn't even provide the service to measure your blood sugar level.

I could be wrong, but that was what the staff in this particular clinic told me. Maybe other similar 1-Malaysia clinics elsewhere do provide some basic medical services. As I have never visited another 1-Malaysia Clinic other than this one before I couldn't verify the medical services available in other similar clinics.

As we push open the glass door to exit I waved and said bye-bye to the staff at the counter. As the counter staff was busy chatting among themselves, with no visitors to attend to I didn't expect an acknowledgement of my friendly greetings. Looking at the image of the empty clinic in the rear mirror as I drove away from the parking lot I then understood why this clinic is so underutilised; the absence of even the most basic of medical diagnosis, treatment and medicine prescription services are discouraging the public from visiting the clinic.

In contrast at the bigger and better equipped government community clinics (Klinik Kesihatan Kerajaan) scenes of huge numbers of patients overcrowding the waiting area and enduring long waiting times to get medical treatment and prescription are the norm every day and at all hours of the day.

traditional therapeutic massage

Batu 14 Pekan Hulu Langat Chin Family Chinese Traditional Bone Specialist and Therapeutic Massage.

I and my wife had to wait from 10am in the morning until 1.30pm in the afternoon in this popular centre (a pre-war shop house building) fo
r our treatment, because there were just too many people waiting for their turns in the queue. You can't make an appointment through the phone but have to go there personally to take a number, and there is no queue jumping.

In the no-frills and utilitarian waiting room you are a nobody but just a patient with a number tag. They don't care if you are rich or poor, man or woman, male or female, old or young, Malay, Chinese, Indian or whatever. While majority of the visitors walk in some disabled persons come in wheel chairs and walkers. Irrespective of who you are you will be attended to on a first come first served basis. The only exception is when the patient is so seriously ill that he needs immediate attention. Many people from the well-heeled group who are accustomed to 5-star reception and who have no patient to wait just return the number to the rack and leave the premises.

Altogether there are usually 7 sifus on duty. You can't choose whom to go. As soon as your number is called you are directed to the next sifu who is available. If you miss a call you may have to wait for at least three more calls before they admit you because there are other people waiting in line for their treatment.

The treatment normally lasts from 30 minutes to 60 minutes, depending on the seriousness of your orthopedic ailment. For an average 45 min of hands on massage therapy the fees are reasonable ranging from RM40 to RM100.

I went there to treat the painful condition of my knees, heels, and misaligned feet while my wife needed some therapy for her sore back, stiff, inflamed and misaligned knee and elbow joints.

On this occasion the sifu who attended to me was a lady (the only woman sifu in the group) who had a vice-like grip and incredible strength and power with her hands. Mentally I had to consciously breathe easy and redirect and spread the pain to all parts of my body to soften the pain intensity as she worked methodically, relentlessly and mercilessly on the muscles, tendons, nerves and ligaments of the limbs digging, slapping, twisting, kneading, rubbing, stepping, drilling, pinching, pulling, compressing, flexing, stretching and alternate tensing and relaxing with her powerful hands.

I paid RM50.00 for the 40 minute treatment including herbal medication and massage ointment while they charged my wife RM40.00 for massage only.

Sound of chants, gongs and cymbals

Aware of the sound of chants, gongs and cymbals permeating the air. Taoist priests are conducting funeral rites for a family living three houses down the road from mine who had lost the head of the family due to illness. May the deceased RIP.

Ahhh choo!

The company doctor gave me a sick chit for the day off from work. I am recuperating at home from a bout of flu which got worse after I was soaked with rainwater this morning.

The medicines for flu upset my stomach. The cleansing kicked in after one hour of swallowing the medicines. However, I felt much better and energised after emptying my bowels of toxins. At 1.30pm I was well enough to eat porridge for my lunch. By 5.00pm I felt that I was about 90% recovered.