A patient with significant brain injury was treated in an emergency department following a massage.
This is according to the New Zealand Medical Association (NZMA), which points out that a stroke following a massage has not previously been reported in Australasia.
In the first report of its kind in Australasia in the New Zealand Medical Journal, doctors at Monash University shared a case study of a 39-year-old man who experienced a stroke after receiving a Thai massage, which appeared to damage the blood flow in his neck.
Following treatment in hospital, the man made a full recovery. Two other cases have been reported in China and India, so although the risk is low, doctors call for tighter regulation of the massage industry.
Damage to arteries in the neck is a well-known cause of strokes in younger patients, but this is usually the result of sport injuries or car accidents, the NZMA reports.
