As clinical studies have confirmed, a combination of moxibustion and acupuncture treatment for Frozen Shoulder works extremely well and many people are curious as to how the treatment actually achieves this. In their western medical viewpoint, modern medical doctors are actually at a loss as to what exactly causes frozen shoulder and if they don’t how the condition arises, their modes of treatment are practically ineffective. Frozen shoulder’s most intriguing aspect is that the sufferer usually has no history of injury. This has made researchers pause to believe that its cause may be due to an auto immune problem. However the researchers still don’t know why the problem tends correct itself after 1½ years or so without requiring any medical intervention.
Over a thousand years ago, classical Chinese medicine texts have described frozen shoulder and its symptoms. This disorder was called by various names, including “Old Woman’s Shoulder” or ‘100 Years old shoulder”.
It’s interesting to note that statistics gathered by western medical researchers reveal that women tend to be more affected by frozen shoulder than men. This was also observed by ancient Chinese physicians hundreds of years ago. Actually, treatment of this condition in women is different to men. Unlike Western conventional medicine, Chinese medicine does not follow the “one size fits all” approach in which steroid shots are the standard for both male or female, and young and old alike.
The aim of Miami acupuncturists in treating frozen shoulder is to bring back harmony to the yin and yang forces of the body. In Chinese medicine, frozen shoulder is essentially a problem in the balance between yin and yang. Western medical studies have actually supported the traditional Chinese medicine perspective of frozen shoulder.
Western medical doctors have observed that their patients during cold weather report their shoulder pain gets worse. This is especially true when the weather changes to extreme cold all of a sudden. Frozen shoulder, according to Chinese medicine, is the result of external cold weather piercing through the shoulder joint and building up there eventually “freezing” up the joint.
This condition, according to Western medicine, is due to a lack of synovial fluid that lubricates the shoulder blade and upper arm. This is congruent to Chinese medicine theory stating that the watery yin fluids have either dried up or become depleted brought about by a history of flu and fever.
Frozen shoulder pain also tends to get worse at night. In Chinese medicine, this may be due to a blood and energy flow blockage that escalates at night due to inactivity and sleeping.
Western medicine treatments for frozen shoulder include regular moving and stretching exercises. In Chinese medicine, practitioners simply go about rectifying the obvious: eliminating the build-up of cold with moxibustion heat therapy.
In moxibustion therapy, yu zhu and other yin moistening Chinese herbs and fluid building acupoints are used to nourish the yin fluids.
Acupoints that are known to boost blood flow and mobilize energy are used to expel the blockage that causes the increased pain at night. Cupping is specifically used to In particular cupping is used enhance the circulation of blood.
Additional acupoints are used for women suffering from frozen shoulder to benefit and normalize their hormone system. To further accelerate healing and increase mobilization, Tui Na massage may also be used.