Acupuncture for Shoulder Pain

Can acupuncture help shoulder pain?

Acupuncture is great at relieving or reducing pain and has been proven to be an effective, drug-free treatment for shoulder pain (2,3,4,5). 

How can acupuncture help?

At TLC Acupuncture Clinic our practitioners have received training in advanced techniques that help to relieve or greatly reducing pain.   We address shoulder complaints by focusing on reducing muscular tension, increasing joint and muscle mobility, normalizing joint fluid levels, removing/reducing inflammation and increasing cellular growth and repair.

Is acupuncture the right choice for shoulder pain?

Shoulder pain can be caused by trauma or degeneration.   Trauma is inclusive of sprains, strains, tearing and dislocations.  Degenerative conditions are inclusive of arthritis, tendinitis, bursitis or frozen shoulder.  If you are experiencing shoulder tension or pain and have ruled out a break, tear or dislocation then acupuncture is an effective drug free treatment option (2).

Pain medications temporarily ease pain but often come with an array of side effects and risks which increase with continued use.   For this reason, Acupuncture, the drug free option is now being used for pain conditions in emergency rooms of certain Melbourne hospitals (6).

Often people turn to physiotherapy for shoulder pain, however in the initial stages of pain, exercising the area with physical therapy can aggravate the condition.  Physiotherapy is a great modality for building muscle strength and is useful when a muscular weakness contributed to the injury or has occurred as a result of the injury.   We often refer to physiotherapists in the second stage of treatment but not in the initial pain stage.

When should I see an acupuncturist?

If you are experiencing pain, please book a visit with one of our practitioners.  With a tailored acupuncture treatment plan, we can help to reduce pain and restore movement.  Acupuncture can be performed immediately after an injury or the following day after surgery.

The team at TLC Acupuncture Brisbane are passionate about your health and achieving fast results for your shoulder complaint.  Shoulder pain is something that can be treated by any of our practitioners, in any of our locations and is something we see regularly in practice.

Clinical research trials for acupuncture as an effective treatment for shoulder pain

There are plenty of clinical studies which confirm that acupuncture is an effective treatment for shoulder complaints and pain.  Some of these include:  

1. Investigation of the effectiveness of acupuncture in the treatment of frozen shoulder.  Conducted in July 2016 by Asheghan M, Aghda AK, Hasemi E, Hollisaz M.

This study concluded that acupuncture ultimately improved the overall movement of flexion and adduction of the shoulder and acupuncture will be recommended for patients with this condition.

2 https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/acm.1996.2.53

3 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15561384

4 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304395910004033

5 https://doi.org/10.1089/acm.2008.0272

6 https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2017/206/11/acupuncture-analgesia-emergency-department-multicentre-randomised-equivalence

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