Shoulder Pain
Shoulder Pain Relief with Acupuncture
Do you need shoulder pain relief? Is it difficult to use your arm properly due to shoulder pain or stiffness? People with shoulder pain quickly realize how much they use their shoulders for everything from carrying groceries, reaching behind to put on your coat, to reaching across the car seat to pick up your purse. Eventually sleeping, showering, and even driving may become painful.
Acupuncture can help! I treat shoulder pain due to sprains, strains, tears, post surgical pain, pain due to injuries such as rotator cuff tears and more chronic conditions such as frozen shoulder.
You name it, when it comes to shoulder pain, if you’ve got it, I’ve most likely treated it! Since 1994 I have been helping many patients find shoulder pain relief and return to doing the things they love.
Frozen Shoulder and Acupuncture
Frozen shoulder – also called adhesive capsulitis – is a condition marked by pain, stiffness, and an increasingly limited ability to use the shoulder joint. Frozen shoulder can last for up to two years usually requiring physical therapy to ensure that the shoulder joint recovers its full range of motion and does not stiffen further. Acupuncture has been demonstrated to decrease the pain and discomfort of frozen shoulder as well as decrease healing time, and is a great addition to physical therapy or massage.
Rotator Cuff Tear and Acupuncture
Rotator cuff injury happens when one or more of the four shoulder joint muscles are torn. Sometimes rotator cuff injuries are minor, but some may require surgery. Acupuncture helps heal minor rotator cuff tears. I have assisted several people who were advised to receive surgery to repair their rotator cuff injuries. Many got shoulder pain relief and avoided surgery.
Shoulder Surgery and Acupuncture
Recovery from shoulder surgery is slow and painful. If your rotator cuff tear does require surgery, acupuncture assists in post operative healing after shoulder surgery or any surgical procedure. Post-operative: acupuncture reduces the amount of pain medication required and shortens healing time.
Bursitis, Tendonitis, and Acupuncture
Bursitis and tendonitis refer to inflammation of a particular area. These two conditions occur in joints where there are both tendons (which attach muscle to bone) and bursa (the fluid filled sacs that cushion the joint and muscle). When either of these become inflamed, there is pain. The proper terminology is ‘impingement syndrome’ when either the tendons or bursa in the rotator cuff region become inflamed. Acupuncture helps you heal faster from bursitis, tendonitis, and impingement syndrome.
Shoulder Pain Research Studies
Acupuncture Demonstrates Faster Recovery
In a 2010 study comparing acupuncture to conventional orthopedic treatments, the acupuncture group fared far better. At the three month follow up, the acupuncture group had a recovery rate of 65% vs. 37% for the orthopedic group.”
Acupuncture Relieves Pain and Disability
The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine published an article in 2009 on the “Efficacy of Acupuncture as a Treatment for Chronic Shoulder Pain.” The study was conducted on 31 participants suffering from shoulder pain, 20 were treated with acupuncture while 11 received sham acupuncture. After six weeks of receiving their designated treatments, the 20 receiving treatment reported clinically significant shoulder pain relief according to the scale used which included scores based on pain and disability of the participants’ shoulders.
