Healing touch of wonder massage

By Mark Oloo

Mary Nyambura hit a dead end when she left her job at a city transport company due to failing health in 2007. Her financial capability having taken a beating, her life deteriorated as she desperately visited top-notch hospitals without success.

Having suffered stroke, she retreated to her rural home in Central Province, where she lived a half-life, while confined to a wheelchair, hoping against hope to find solace at last. Within another year, she was stung by a combination of ailments that killed whatever hope she had of ever finding a medical solution to her predicament.

The year 2008 came, and she was introduced to thermal massage therapy, a technology that relies on heat energy to sooth muscles using automatic or manual massagers that repair the nervous system through pressure and warmth.

Two months

After three months of thermal massage, her life changed for the better. She abandoned the wheelchair and began using crutches. And after another two months of thermal massage, she was back on her feet moving around without any support. Weeks later, she resumed her driving job, and ceased relying on drugs.

Biden Syuki, 62, who had high blood pressure, was diagnosed with diabetes in September last year. But after bouts of thermal massage, he says his health improved amazingly. And when he visited his doctor three months after his diagnosis, his doctor withdrew his drugs.

The rising cost of conventional healthcare has forced Kenyans to diversify their choices for medical care. Today, thousands have embraced thermal massage therapy. And many of these patients tell moving and life changing stories, speaking of an efficient, readily available, and low cost treatment.

Ceragem, a health science company that originated in Korea 14 years ago, is promoting the technology in more than 70 countries, including Kenya. And although the firm has set up offices in Nairobi, the Kenyan business wing of the company is popular with patients from as far as Ethiopia and Congo, who pitch tent in Nairobi to attend massage sessions.

"Many people come to Ceragem as the last option, having tried the conventional and herbal alternatives and failed," says Raphael Muinde, Ceragem administration manager in Buru Buru, Nairobi.

The process

Response, according to both clients and Ceragem staff, has been overwhelming with patients suffering from kidney disorders, diabetes, arthritis, heart diseases, high blood pressure, stoke and others ailments fully recovering.

Patients who have sampled the technology say it heals back pains, knee pains, kidney problems, slipped discs and restores stamina, some of which would require costly operations outside the country.

Every visit to a Ceragem centre starts with trainings on the technology and the conditions it can address. There is a one-on-one interaction with patients before the actual massage sessions that last 40 minutes begins. The massage is concentrated on the vertebral column.

"We offer free sessions in five stations in Nairobi. When a patient is impressed with the service, they are free to buy the machine so they get the service at home," says Muinde.

The healing process when one uses the thermal massager incorporates psychological and physical changes.

Ceragem combines technology with many traditional principles of medicine such as moxibustion — which utilises heat derived from mixture of herbs to stimulate pressure points which promote the body’s ability to heal while increasing blood circulation and providing relaxation —and pressure to massage and soothe the body’s "distress signals," which may cause pain and stress.

Harrison Kihara, office manager, Ceragem Buru Buru, says the massager comes with two projectors, one of which is used to massage the backbone area, while the other helps to heal conditions in the vertebra column.

The massager addresses conditions such as urinary complications, prostate gland inflammation, hemorrhoids, weak blood circulation and low libido. The massager has no known side effects.

Other conditions it addresses include allergies, chronic fatigue, asthma, hearing degeneration, hypertension, cramp breathing problems, pneumonia, and visual disability among others.

No side effects

"The thermal massager has no known side effect. It is always safer to use but as one gets better, there is usually what we call a healing crisis where many patients under our treatment appear sicker despite the fact that they are actually getting better," says Muinde.

He says there are living testimonies of patients who have healed form otherwise complicated ailments after they began using the Ceragem technology.

At the Ceragem centres, patients are asked to give testimonies every Wednesdays during which they raise questions and share out their experiences since they begun using the massagers.

Roseline Anyango who quit her job at a local university due to high blood pressure says her health was restored within months of visiting the Ceragem centres. She had been under medication since 1983 without much progress and by the time she quit her job, her pressure had hit a record high of 180/125.

"After three months of using the massager, I noticed radical changes in my body. There was a quick restoration. When I visited a doctor, he recommended I discontinue medication," Anyango told Business Unusual at the Ceragem Buru Buru centre.

She says when she visited her doctor shortly thereafter, and medical tests proved her pressure had normalised.

Patients at the massage centres also undergo physiotherapy, where they are taken through simple aerobics such as jogging, and hand clapping to encourage physical vibrancy.

"Clapping of hands and humour used by our staff help introduce our patients to the healing process. We appreciate that physical education is an alternative for of treatment with a powerful therapeutic effect on the human body," says Muinde.

He says the Buru Buru Ceragem centre serves clients of all ages. One of their clients is a 116 year-old man.

Although the company offers thermal massage free of charge to the public, it sells the thermal massagers to patients wishing to partake of the service within the comfort of their homes.

Patients who buy the gadget can use it privately or use it to generate income by selling its services.

Noble idea

"I have been visiting the Buru Buru health club for the last two months and so far, I am happy with the service. My plea to the company is to extend the services to other region of Kenya to save patients the cost of having to travel to Nairobi," says Kennedy Ndede.

Millicent Chebet told Business Unusual the massager was a noble idea and that she was contemplating buying it.

But Muinde of Ceragem says although there is guarantee the thermal massager works well, the healing process starts with an individual.

"There is the important element of having the right attitude and having faith. This is why we urge our patients to have faith in the treatment and consistently attend the sessions," Muinde says.

"Coming here once or twice a month may not deliver the desired results. We also urge patients not to rush the treatment. They should allow the body to adjust itself," he says.

Ceragam staff also say patients who visit Ceragem while on drugs should not abandon their mediation until a medical doctor recommends so.