A doctor warned against giving careless massages after a wife's neck rub left her husband paralysed.

The patient 54, had asked his spouse for a rubdown to relieve the ache in his neck and shoulders. His wife was said to have pressed down hard to loosen the knots in his muscles.

The man went to bed feeling relaxed, but woke up eight hours later as a severe pain radiated throughout his neck. He found that the right side of his body was completely paralysed, and he had trouble speaking.

He was rushed to the district hospital before being transferred to a larger hospital in Chiang Mai, Thailand, where he was found to have suffered partial brain death. The neck massage had reportedly ruptured his anterior carotid artery, cutting off the precious oxygen supply to parts of his brain.

Dr Pracha Kanyaprasit, a neurosurgeon at Chiangmai Ram Hospital, shared the cautionary tale online on May 7.

He said: 'The CT scan results showed partial brain death. There are four blood vessels supplying the brain: the right and left anterior, and the right and left posterior.

'In this case, a blood vessel in the patient's neck ruptured, causing a clot that clogged one of the blood vessels. It happened at night so the blockage lasted for more than eight hours. It is too late now. All we could do was remove part of the skull to relieve the pressure on his brain and increase his chances of survival.'

The neurosurgeon warned that kneading or massaging the neck too hard can cause arterial dissection, when the inner lining of the artery tears, potentially causing serious neurologic problems.

He added: 'If you want a massage from your partner, enrol them in a massage course so they can understand human anatomy and avoid damaging vital blood vessels. The proper training will help them identify which areas to avoid to reduce the risk of causing disabilities.'

In December, a Thai female singer died from a spinal infection after having a massage for her shoulder pain.

Phing Chyada, 20, had visited the massage parlour in Udon Thani on October 5 to ease the persistent pain in her shoulders. However, the masseur reportedly twisted her neck several times.

Phing left the shop feeling fine, but her health dramatically worsened over the following weeks as she received more massages.

She was confined in different hospitals and was prescribed numerous medications for a swollen spinal cord that caused her agonising pain. Despite doctor's efforts, the infection had spread throughout her bloodstream, and she died after suffering cerebral oedema on December 8.