Nam Wah Pai Traditional Chinese Physician Centre traces its roots to 1964, when it began as a treatment room inside the Nam Wah Martial Arts school in the old Chong Pang village along Sembawang Road, treating injuries for martial arts students as well as villagers seeking help with injuries and bodily discomfort. In 1993, Master Sim Pho Kok and his son Master Shen Pengyuan settled the clinic in its current home at Yishun Block 123, where they have treated patients for more than two decades.
Master Sim Pho Kok has been practising TCM since the 1970s, with more than 50 years of experience treating complex muscle and bone injuries, while Master Shen Pengyuan has practised alongside his father since the 1980s, with particular skill in precise acupuncture technique for sports injuries, nerve tension, muscle strain, stroke sequelae, joint degeneration, and organ and visceral disorders. Master Shen Pengyuan is also a qualified traditional herbal pharmacist. Both physicians are attending physicians of the centre, and Master Shen Pengyuan is a Registered Acupuncturist of Singapore (Reg No. T0101419B) and TCM Ophthalmologist, with training including orthopedics at Zhang Zhou Hospital of China, TCM College (S) validated by Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, and the Singapore College of Traditional Chinese Medicine. He also serves as injury treatment advisor to numerous Singapore lion dance, dragon dance and wushu associations.
The clinic offers a full range of traditional TCM treatment methods including acupuncture, tuina manual therapy, traditional die da (bonesetting) treatment, and cupping therapy, alongside dedicated Complete Joint Care, Complete Heart Care, Complete Eye Care and Complete Lung Care programmes, and its own Nam Wah Qing medicated balm. The clinic's core philosophy, held since its founding, is to heal the root cause of an ailment rather than just its symptoms.
Nam Wah Pai Traditional Chinese Physician Centre didn't start life as a clinic in the conventional sense. It began in 1964 inside the Nam Wah Martial Arts school in the old Chong Pang village along Sembawang Road, where a treatment room was set up to care for students injured during martial arts training. Word spread quickly, and soon villagers and outsiders alike were coming to seek treatment for injuries and general bodily discomfort — the beginnings of what would become a well-established TCM practice.
In 1993, the practice moved into its current home at Block 123 in Yishun, established by Master Sim Pho Kok and his son, Master Shen Pengyuan. The pair have now treated patients from this Yishun clinic for more than two decades. Master Sim Pho Kok has been practising TCM since the 1970s — over 50 years of hands-on experience resolving complex muscle and bone injuries — while Master Shen Pengyuan has worked alongside his father since the 1980s, building his own three decades of practical treatment experience with a particular focus on precise, accurate acupuncture technique.
Both physicians hold formal TCM qualifications: training in orthopedics at Zhang Zhou Hospital of China, graduation from TCM College (S) validated by Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, and study at the Singapore College of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Master Shen Pengyuan is a Registered Acupuncturist of Singapore, a qualified traditional herbal pharmacist, and a TCM Ophthalmologist through the Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine. He's also the go-to injury treatment advisor for a long list of Singapore's lion dance, dragon dance and wushu associations — a role that speaks to the clinic's roots in treating martial arts and performance-related injuries.
Nam Wah Pai's treatment focus spans tissue and nerve conditions affecting the spine and body joints — sports injuries, strains, sprains, nerve and ligament injuries, spinal and joint injuries, and degenerative bone and tissue conditions, along with everyday complaints like back, neck, shoulder, hip, knee, ankle and joint pain. Beyond musculoskeletal care, the centre also addresses a wide range of body malfunction symptoms, including skin and hair problems, vision issues, dark eye rings, hearing and sleeping disorders, fatigue, migraine, sinus problems, poor appetite, loss of taste, and recovery support after stroke or surgery.
Treatment at Nam Wah Pai draws on the full range of traditional TCM methods: acupuncture, tuina manual therapy, traditional die da (bonesetting) treatment for injuries, and cupping therapy. The clinic also runs dedicated Complete Joint Care, Complete Heart Care, Complete Eye Care and Complete Lung Care programmes for patients with specific, ongoing concerns, and produces its own Nam Wah Qing medicated balm.
Throughout its history, Nam Wah Pai has held to one core value: healing the root cause of an ailment, not just masking its symptoms. That philosophy, paired with more than half a century of accumulated experience across two generations of physicians, has made the Yishun clinic a long-standing fixture for patients seeking traditional Chinese medicine in Singapore — carrying forward the same knowledge and techniques first practised in a martial arts school treatment room back in 1964.