First signs

From 2014 to 2016, Zhu worked for a cybersecurity company in Beijing. He rented a room in a shared apartment with strangers about a 10-minute walk from his office to save time commuting.

However, he found it inconvenient to share a shower room with the other tenants, so he usually took showers at his office before leaving work at about midnight.

At the time, he regularly worked overtime, which meant sitting in front of a computer screen for several hours at a time, which caused many problems.

"I often felt soreness and pain in my neck, shoulders and lower back when I left the office after a busy day. I thought I could bear it, so I didn't pay much attention to it," he said.

The pain got worse after he started his own business in 2019, because of increased pressure and workload, which aggravated a lower back injury from his childhood.