Samira Rostami has been getting massages for decades to relieve stress, but in the summer of 2021, a masseuse tried a new technique that would do the opposite of calming the body.
The masseuse targeted the joints around the base of her skull, pressing deeply into her spinal cord. The next day she was bedridden with fissures of pain radiating across her upper back as if someone was trying to tear her muscles in two. Over the next few months, the pain worsened such that she could no longer swallow pills or food. Barely able to hold her head up, she spent a year sustaining herself on meal replacement shakes.
