Singapore’s traditional Chinese medicine clinics see rise in patients with serious pandemic side effects

When a patient walked into Wong Lin Ho’s traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) clinic last year with bruises she claimed were sustained during a bad fall, the 32-year-old director of Ong Fujian Chinese Physician Hall suspected something was not right.

When Wong asked the patient for details, he found her story inconsistent. It fed his suspicions that she might have been domestically abused.

“There is a distinct difference between the types of sprains, bruises and injuries caused by falling, compared to injuries caused by intentional physical harm,” said Wong, who has a degree in both TCM and Western medicine.

Wong has been seeing more patients with injuries that seem to stem from physical abuse in the past two years amid the Covid-19 pandemic. He said he would see one such patient every few months before 2020 but this had now increased to at least one a month, most of them women.

His observations come as Singapore, along with many other countries worldwide, has experienced a rise in domestic abuse cases during the pandemic.

Social workers say victims and abusers have been forced to spend more time together due to lockdowns, while family tensions over the likes of work, finances and caregiving duties have also risen.

According to the Singapore police force, when a “circuit breaker” partial lockdown was imposed in the city state in April 2020, there was a 22 per cent increase in family violence cases. In Hong Kong, police statistics show the number of child abuse cases in the first nine months of 2021 jumped by two-thirds compared to the same period in 2020.

Unlike Hong Kong, which is urging the wider use of TCM to treat Covid-19 patients, especially those recovering at home, Singapore’s Ministry of Health (MOH) does not allow the country’s TCM clinics – which had 2,284 working practitioners as of 2019 – to treat patients showing symptoms of acute respiratory infections.

The Singapore authorities say there is no scientific evidence to show traditional Chinese medicine can prevent or treat Covid-19 and thus, virus patients are referred to Western clinics or hospitals.

But more people are turning to TCM practitioners to help with the myriad side effects of the protracted pandemic. Five of the six TCM clinics This Week in Asia visited said they had seen a spike in patients in recent months.

Patients have sought help with injuries seemingly sustained as a result of domestic abuse, mental health issues and physical problems associated with uncomfortable work-from-home set-ups.

Myriad range of ailments treated

Wong said he had seen a 20 per cent increase in patients seeking treatment for psychiatric issues since the pandemic began.

“More depressed patients are coming in due to the lack of social interaction.”

Another clinic in Singapore, Sin Kang TCM, has also seen a rise in such patients. “A lot of these patients come in with anxiety from their family, work, or personal lives, as a result of the pressures of the pandemic,” said physician Liu Liang, 55.

“Some patients feel this stress in their joints, so we will treat them using bone setting and tui na, a form of TCM massage. Acupuncture can also release negative emotions.”

“We have seen more patients with posture issues, such as stiff necks and frozen shoulders, due to staying in the same position for long hours when working from home. This is because they may not have the right equipment, like ergonomic office workstations and chairs,” said Diana Yap, 43, a TCM practitioner and co-founder of Acu Point.

“If their body alignment is off, we will treat them using bone-setting or acupuncture or a combination of both.”

Wong, of Ong Fujian Chinese Physician Hall, said he and his fellow physicians had also noticed an increase in patients suffering from erectile dysfunction, premature ejaculation and prostatitis, a painful inflammation of the prostate gland.

Wong thought such problems could be due to “people engaging in more sexual activity as a result of lockdowns and working from home” as well as the fact that more residents are cycling now, taking up a new hobby during the pandemic.

Yap said she had also seen more gym and exercise-related injuries at her clinic.

At the same time, some people have become more sedentary, which is also harmful.

“For the elderly, fears of contracting Covid-19 can cause many to stay cooped up at home, which can cause their bodies to grow tight and stiff,” said Yap. “Tui na is suitable for treating such cases.”

Vivian Lee Ya Ling, 30, from Pulse TCM, said a desk-bound lifestyle had led to some people seeking TCM services “for acute and chronic pain management”.

Getting to the root of the matter

When it comes to treatment, TCM practitioners often refer to a holistic approach where causes, not just symptoms, are targeted.

“Some patients come in with insomnia due to working excessively when working from home,” said Chu Jia Yi, 31, a physician at Kin Teck Tong TCM.

“Sitting down the whole day and not moving enough causes indigestion and gastric reflux, which causes insomnia when you are unable to sleep well due to the discomfort.”

“TCM treats the overall health of a person,” she added. “If they have gastric reflux, we treat that and find out that it also helps with their insomnia because they become more comfortable, sleeping better.”

The pandemic has also forced the TCM sector in Singapore to innovate and modernise, including by embracing technology.

Koh Yin Tock, director of Yu Guo TCM, said her clinic had introduced an online appointment system and used WhatsApp to communicate with patients.

“If we are closing the clinic for disinfection, or if a physician has to take last-minute medical leave, online platforms like WhatsApp are great ways to keep our patients informed in a timely manner,” Koh said.

Ong Fujian Chinese Physician Hall has also brought in new equipment, such as ultrasound machines. It also now provides cryotherapy – sometimes known as cold therapy, involving the use of low temperatures – and hydrotherapy treatments.

“We use modern equipment to improve the efficacy and variety of treatments for our patients,” Wong said. “So far, the response has been pretty good.”

As TCM gains traction in the modern world, demand for TCM health webinars and workshops has risen.

“We host Zoom talks and webinars for corporate clients on how TCM can benefit their staff,” said Nicholas Lee, 50, Sin Kang TCM’s business development manager. “During the pandemic, enquiries for these talks have increased by 30 to 40 per cent and deals to run webinars have gone up by 10 to 15 per cent.”

Wong also said the pandemic had generally made people more interested in how infectious diseases spread among populations.

“As such, they are increasingly aware of maintaining a proper, healthy body with a functioning immune system that can aid in the defence against different forms of pathological infections,” he said.

“Many have now turned to alternative forms of medicine, such as TCM, which targets to boost, or tiao yang (take care of) one’s immunity.”