Your Best Beijing Year… KORE Therapy

With the start of the New Year, most of us will be embarking on a newly intensified exercise plan designed to kick our unwilling bodies into shape. However, many will also be held back by persistent aches and pains, that often aren’t helped by standard stretching and massage therapies. If this is the case, now could be the time to treat yourself to a round of KORE Therapy.

Originally developed in the UK around 25 years ago, KORE Therapy combines Chinese and western hands-on medical techniques including deep tissue massage, tuina, cupping and cranial balancing. Rather than treating surface symptoms, it aims to get to the root cause of aches and pains by using muscle and functional to check for nerve, organ and muscle imbalances. The Four Seasons Spa is the first location in Beijing to offer the treatment, which claims to be able to identify and treat everything from neck, back, shoulder and leg problems, to digestive issues, to fatigue and sleep disorders. Being your typical achy, hunchbacked office worker, I was the perfect candidate to try it out.

Having changed into a set of comfortable Four Seasons pyjamas, I lie down and let my pleasant female therapist get to work. After ten or so minutes of testing the strength in my limbs and core, she correctly identified that my right foot and right shoulder are particular problem areas, explaining that both likely stem from a spinal imbalance that throws my whole body out of whack. Focusing in on my shoulder, which thanks to years of stubbornly carrying my laptop in a stylish satchel instead of a functional backpack sits slightly higher than my left, my therapist decided to use a Chinese massage technique and commenced a thorough 20 minutes of pushing and kneading that had me yelping in pain as she worked out the knots. The after-effect though was pronounced; after the initial stiffness wore off my shoulder felt significantly looser.

People are often rightly skeptical about treatments like this and at the end of the day the efficacy will vary person by person. However, for a break from the typically clinical environment of Chinese massage parlors, the luxurious environment and competent staff of the Four Seasons Spa can’t be beat.

A 20-minute KORE consultation session with one of the Four Seasons’ therapists is RMB 580, while each 45 minute treatment session is RMB 1,300 (all prices are subject to 15 percent service charge).

Visit www.koretherapy.com for more detailed information about the treatment and its applications.

More stories by this author here.

Email: robynnetindall@thebeijinger.com
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Photo: Ken