Acupuncture is helpful addition to Frozen Shoulder Treatment

A randomised controlled trial undertaken by researchers at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf in Germany, shows that acupuncture at sights distant to the affected area can bring immediate pain relief to patients with frozen shoulder. Its addition to the usual conservative care regime, also results in shorter recovery times.

Sixty patients with the condition were assigned to receive either shallow “press tack” acupuncture or sham treatment. An immediate improvement in pain score of 3.3 points was seen in the treated group, compared with 1.6 points in the sham group. The participants were then offered standard acupuncture and 34 accepted ten treatments over ten weeks, in addition to usual conservative care. A further 13 patients received usual care alone. The acupuncture group exhibited significantly improved pain scores within 15 weeks; the corresponding time for the usual care group was 30 weeks.

(Immediate Pain Relief in Adhesive Capsulitis by Acupuncture – A Randomized Controlled Double-Blinded Study. Pain Medicine, 20 March 2017.)

Author: Robin Costello

I offer traditional Chinese acupuncture in Exeter, from a tranquil clinic a mile from the city centre, and next to the University of Exeter. I graduated originally from the London School of Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine’s 3 year full time Acupuncture Diploma (DipAc) course. I am on the practitioners register of the British Acupuncture Council (MBAcC), a regulatory and professional body with an entry standard of a full three year undergraduate degree level training. I have worked in a hospital in south west China, deepening my knowledge and using acupuncture and Chinese massage (tuina) as the treatment of choice in its country of origin. I have taught Chinese medicine in colleges, the NHS and at university level. I also practise Qi Gong, and Chinese dietary therapy, that is the medicinal use of ordinary foods, chosen to help achieve particular therapeutic effects in different individuals.