Periarthritis of shoulder Part 1

Shoulder joint periarthritis is also known as "shoulder leakage wind", "fifty shoulder", "shoulder periarthritis", the disease is more common in patients around 50 years old, women more than men, the disease has a slow onset, inappropriate treatment can be delayed for a long time, seriously affecting the patient's work and life.

 

Symptoms: Shoulder pain and limited movement. At the beginning, it is a paroxysmal dull pain, which gradually develops into a persistent pain and gradually worsens. It is lighter in the day and worse at night, affecting sleep and radiating to the vicinity. When the shoulder joint moves, it pulls the relevant adhesive soft tissue, which can cause severe pain. Patients cannot comb their hair or wash their face. Turn back the shoulder to backside. Patients with long term disease can cause the shoulder deltoid muscle, supraspinatus muscle and other muscles of the shoulder. It is not difficult for Doctor of traditional Chinese Medicine for Sports Injury to make a diagnosis based on clinical complaints and combined with clinical examination.

The pathological manifestation of periarthritis of shoulder is mainly the adhesion between joint capsule and surrounding soft tissue, resulting pain around shoulder joint and mobility dysfunction. Western medicine has almost no effective treatment and it usually takes about two years to recover naturally. The treatment method of Chinese medicine physicians for Sports Injury is to relax the spasmodic muscle groups, loosen and tear the adhesion soft tissue, so as to relieve pain, restore the functional movement of shoulder joint and achieve the purpose of treatment. Many people can achieve 70-100% recovery after one to two months of treatment. In the stiff period of periarthritis of shoulder, the treatment time should be extended. The earlier the treatment can get effect the faster and better. We do not use any analgesics during treatment, patients need to endure the pain. Here are some cases.

 

Case 1: Female, 50 years old, a WorkCover patient. She stated that she suffers from left shoulder periarthritis for several months. Her family doctor arranged treatment for two and a half months, but it was ineffective and the pain continued to worsen, causing unbearable pain in the left shoulder joint and significantly limited joint movement. She can not sleep at night and was often woken up with pain. After one month treatment by acupuncture and massage, she totally did 13 times treatment, the patient's left shoulder joint pain was significantly reduced, the movement function was significantly improved. The patient returned to work.

Some people will ask: I did an ultrasound, or CT, or MRI examination. I have bursitis, fluid, and torn ligaments in my shoulder. I answered: normal people to do these tests may also find these conditions, there is no great diagnostic value.

 

Periarthritis of shoulder Part 2

Case 2: Female, 42 years old, office worker. She stated that she had right shoulder periarthritis for four months. Her right shoulder joint was in severe pain and joint activity function was significantly limited. She often woke up in pain at night. When she was at work, she often had severe shoulder pain due to the movement of a shoulder joint, and she often shed tears. The physiotherapist asked her to wait until the pain in her right shoulder joint eased before further treatment. The X-ray examination showed no abnormalities. The ultrasound examination report indicated: there was a small ligament tear and edema. After my second treatment, her shoulder activity improved, the pain was reduced, and her sleep significantly improved at night . After fifteen treatments, the shoulder periarthritis (frozen shoulder) recovered by more than 90%. The patient told the shoulder specialist that her shoulder periarthritis had improved by 50%, and the specialist rated it as very good and recommended continuing acupuncture and massage treatment.

 

Case 3: Male, 58 years old, WorkCover patient. She suffered from right shoulder periarthritis for four months. His right shoulder joint pain is in severe, the joint activity function is significantly limited. Ultrasound examination revealed a small tendon tear and edema. After several months of treatment, the patient improved significantly and was basically clinically cured. The family doctor conducted an ultrasound reexamination on the patient, and the report indicated that there was no change in the ultrasound examination report before and after treatment. The family doctor concluded that acupuncture and massage treatment were ineffective. In order to continue to consolidate the therapeutic effect, the patient told the insurance company that he had recovered 90% and hoped to continue treatment. However, the insurance company believed that shoulder periarthritis was a long-term chronic disease, so it gave $10,000 for Worker’s compensation.

Case 4: Female, 53 years old, a housewife. She stated that she suffered from right shoulder periarthritis for more than one year. The pain in her right shoulder has increased in the past month, the mobility of the shoulder joint is limited. She cannot comb her hair or wash her face and often wake up in pain at night. Ultrasound examination found that there was a two-centimeter tear in one of the tendon. After three times of acupuncture and massage treatments, the pain of the affected shoulder has been reduced. She  can sleep well and the shoulder joint activity has improved significantly. She stopped the treatment due to financial problems. Of course, the patient can also shorten the natural recovery time.

However, orthopedics and traumatology doctors use to loosen and tear the adhesive soft tissue, which is the opposite of the ultrasonic examination results. How to explain the treatment of orthopedics and traumatology doctors? Shoulder periarthritis is a disease characterized by adhesion of the joint capsule and the surrounding soft tissues, resulting in pain around the shoulder joint and mobility dysfunction of movement. The treatment method of Doctor of Chinese medicine for Sports Injury is to relax the spasmodic muscle groups, loosen and tear the adhered soft tissues, so it relieves pain, restoring the mobility of the shoulder joint and achieving the purpose of treatment. Its treatment method is not the same as the ultrasound examination, because ultrasound examination finds tendon tear. Usually Western medicine believes that it should be repaired surgically or wait for it to heal naturally. However, doctor of Chinese medicine for Sports Injury use to loosen and tear the adhesive soft tissues, which is the opposite of the ultrasound examination results. How to explain the treatment of Doctor of Chinese medicine for Sports Injury? The experience of treating periarthritis of shoulder in Australia, I think the ultrasound examination may be misleading. I also mentioned above a patient when he recovered from shoulder periarthritis, but the ultrasound examination report showed no change before and after treatment. When I treated a torn tendon shown by ultrasound, I used the method of tearing the adhesive soft tissue, but it did not make the disease worse, but the patient's disease gradually improved. I also had a trial, I claimed that the right shoulder joint was painful and mobility difficulties. When I got a ultrasound report, the family doctor said: my right shoulder joint has a serious problem, it will take ten months to recover. But I don't have any pain in my right shoulder. Therefore, I came to a conclusion: using ultrasound to detect shoulder periarthritis, it has no any clinical diagnostic value.

When I treat this disease, I usually advise the patient: we have mutual responsible, the patient can tolerate more pain, which will make recovery faster, the patient needs to cooperate with some exercises at home. For majority of patients, shoulder periarthritis is a curable disease. The earlier the treatment, the better and faster effect.

 

Periarthritis of shoulder Part 3

Shoulder periarthritis is an incurable disease in Western medicine. Family doctors usually tell patients that it will take two years for the disease to heal naturally. However, many patients still say that they have not recovered. But in my clinic, treatment usually works after one treatment and the disease improves significantly after three to five treatments. I will introduce some more successful cases.

Case 5: Female, 50 years old, government officer, no any language barrier. A friend recommended me to my clinic. She stated that she had right shoulder periarthritis for half a year. Her ultrasound examination of right shoulder joint on February 13 revealed a tendon tear of 12mm x 3mm x 5mm. MRI examination report found no tendon tear on June 20 and ultrasound examination on July 23 still confirmed that there was a 4.1mm tear. The ultrasound examination of the left shoulder joint on March 3 found that only a small tear in the left shoulder joint. An ultrasound examination on March 26 revealed a tear of 11mmx10mm in the superior muscle tendon of all thickness. The MRI examination on July 1 confirmed that there was no tear of the superior muscle tendon of the left shoulder joint, but there was a small bone hyperplasia, which was shown in color photos. The shoulder specialist recommended surgery on her left shoulder joint. The family doctor said: He didn't know what to do? Therefore, the patient came to my clinic for treatment, the right shoulder periarthritis, shoulder joint pain is severe, joint movement is significantly limited, it does not need surgery, the left shoulder joint has no pain, the joint can move normally, it needs surgery. She has been treated by a registered Doctor of Chinese medicine, the doctor gave her acupuncture treatment, and the doctor told: do not move the right shoulder joint, otherwise it will increase the ligament tear. I gave the patient a clinical examination and read the various examination reports, and told the patient that the examination reports were incorrect and recommended dropping them in the garbage. Think about it, the second ultrasound diagnosis is: the right shoulder joint 12mm x 3mm x 5mm tendon tear. On March 26, an ultrasound examination revealed an 11mmx10mm tear in the full thickness of the supraspinatus tendon of the left shoulder joint. The MRI examination diagnosed that no tendon tear was found in the left and right shoulder joints. However, the right shoulder joint was in severe pain and the joint movement function was significantly limited, so the patient sought treatment for the right shoulder joint. The left shoulder joint had no pain and the joint movement function was normal, so the patient did not request treatment for the left shoulder joint. However, the shoulder specialist suggested that the patient undergo left shoulder surgery. I told the patient that these reports had no clinical value and were wrong. My treatment method is to relax the spasmodic muscles, loosen and tear the adhesions of the soft tissue, thereby relieving the pain and restoring the shoulder joint function to achieve the treatment goal. The patient was skeptical, she told me: "The treatment should be gentler, and she would rather come for more treatments." After the first treatment, the patient took the initiative to tell me that the right shoulder joint movement had improved. After the fifth treatment, the patient told me: "I will no longer be awakened by the pain of the right shoulder joint. I can raise it more than 170 degrees, and I can even turn it backward to the opposite waist. My quality of life has improved significantly."

Case 6: Male, 45 years old. He came to my clinic for treatment due to the pain in her left shoulder joint for several months on 19 December 2009. When she lifted her left upper limb more than 60 degrees, she needed to use her right hand to help her continue to raise it. When she lifted her left upper limb more than 120 degrees, she could raise it by herself. When the left upper leg was lowered to 120 degrees, the left upper leg fell off. An ultrasound examination revealed a 9.4×3mm tendon tear in the left shoulder. (30 Novermber 2009 Ultrasond Left shoulder report: Some fluid in distal third of bicep tendon sheath suggestive of tendosynovitis. Approximately 9.4mm × 3mm intrasubstance tear of anterior third of supraspinatus tendon associated with adjacent heterogenous echotexture.) Western medicine recommends that patients take more rest and wait for surgical treatment. According to the clinical examination, I told the patient: diagnosed as biceps tendinitis, do not need to operate, go to work, earn money to pay for treatment, come to my clinic twice a week for treatment. Can he ask once? I replied: OK, just better slowly. At the third visit, the patient reported that the pain of the left shoulder joint was significantly reduced. At the fourth visit, the patient reported that after three treatments, the left shoulder joint did not affect any work. At the sixth visit, when the treatment was completed, the patient's joint function had returned to normal.

 

Periarthritis of shoulder Part 4

Shoulder periarthritis is an incurable disease in Western medicine. Family doctors usually tell patients that it will take two years for the disease to heal naturally. However, many patients still say that they have not recovered. But in my clinic, treatment usually works after one treatment and the disease improves significantly after three to five treatments. I will introduce some more successful cases.

 

Case 7: Male, 58 years old. He has right Shoulder periarthritis for several months. His right shoulder has limited upward and backwards movements. He always wake up in pain at night. He did an ultrasound examination and the report on 21 December 2009 showed that X-RAY and ULTRASOUND of the right shoulder’s Conclusion: Suspected full thickness tear of the supraspinatus tendon anteriorly. Mild increased bursal and joint fluid, and associated synovitis. His MRI report on 23 December 2009, it showed that MRI right shoulder’s conclusion: Inflammation demonstrated of the inferior capsule consistent with imaging findings of adhesive capsulitis, with small amount of fluid seem within the glenohumeral joint. Fluid seen within the subcoracoid bursa in keeping with subcoracoid bursitis. Western medicine shoulder specialists believe that it will take one to two years for patients to recover. This disease seriously affects the patient's daily life, so the patient came to my clinic for treatment. After the examination, I told the patient that usually after one to two months of treatment, the patient can get 70-100% recovery. But we need to cooperate with each other, treatment for three times a week. I will do a heavier massage, you can bear more pain, so that you can recover faster and do some exercises after going back, so that you can speed up recovery. The patient replied: He can only do two treatments a week, he would rather do a lighter massage and do more treatments. After four treatments, he will not wake up in pain at night. After fifteen treatments, the pain of his right shoulder joint has almost disappeared. The shoulder joint activity function was improved significantly, and shoulder can lifting and reach to 175 degrees, and the backturn could be reach the lower angle of the left shoulder bone. The recovery of right shoulder periarthritis is more than 90%.    

 

Case 8: Male, 40 years old. He found a doctor of Chinese medicine in Melbourne to treat the right shoulder periarthritis, because he need to return back to work in Sydney, he asked the doctor of Chinese medicine to introduce him to a specialist of Chinese Medicine for Sports Injury. The doctor of Chinese medicine in Melbourne did not know me, but he recommended the patient to me for treatment based on the Chinese advertisement. The patient is the most severe case of shoulder periarthritis that I have seen in my 30 years of medical practice. The right shoulder joint and right upper limb were pressed against the right side of the patient's body, and the right shoulder joint had almost lost all its mobility. The patient said: This situation has been going on for a year. I think the doctor of Chinese medicine in Sydney has ever seen such a case. I told the patient: my treatment method is to relax the tense and spastic muscle group, release and tear the adhesive soft tissue, so that it can relieve the pain, restore the shoulder joint function, in order to achieve the purpose of treatment. Also I tell the patient: treatment is very painful, hope him to cooperate with the treatment. He was very cooperative. I always told him after each treatment, "I'm sorry, get you too much pain." After the third treatment, the range of motion of his right shoulder joint was 40-50 degrees of abduction and 40 degrees of anterior and posterior motion. He said: “Fxxx here, I don’t know how to come here, it is better or bad?” I tell patients: Any treatment that improves joint mobility is a good treatment and you can ask any doctor. After the completion of the fifth treatment, his right shoulder joint can reach 90 degrees of abduction and the anterior and posterior motion has been significantly improved. He is convinced that my treatment is effective in his recovery. After continuous treatment for nine times for about 50 days, his right shoulder joint movement function could reach 160-170 degrees up, and the backturn activity could reach the left belt above. The treatment was stopped due to economic reasons. Treatment results: The right shoulder joint movement function has basically not affected his life and work.

 

Periarthritis of shoulder Part 5

Shoulder periarthritis is also a common disease. Western medicine does not have an effective treatment method. It often lasts for a long time, interfering with the patient's work and life. A doctor of Chinese medicine for Sports Injury is an option for you.

 

Case 9: Female, 62 years old, she works as a sewer. Due to a fall, her left shoulder was injured. The family doctor requested her to perform an X-ray and ultrasound examination of her left shoulder joint. The ultrasound examination revealed that a small ligament tear and a small accumulation of fluid. Therefore, the family doctor recommends her to take rest and do not move the left shoulder joint. Two weeks later, he came to my clinic for treatment. He had limited movement and pain in his left shoulder joint and left shoulder ligament was torn, so her family doctor suggested rest. I told the patient that the ultrasound diagnosis was incorrect. People aged 50-60 or older, who have no any symptoms, may be found to have torn ligaments when they go for examination. This has no clinical significance. If you do not move your left shoulder for two weeks, it will become a periarthritis of the shoulder. After the first treatment is completed and the joint movement has improved. The patient asks: When can I go back to work? I answer: tomorrow. She asked again: What if the ligament is torn? I answer: you get a CT scan tomorrow, you can rule out ligament tear, then you can go back to work. After five times of acupuncture and massage treatment within two weeks, the joint movement returned to normal and the pain disappeared. She returned to normal work. The earlier the treatment of shoulder periarthritis, the faster the recovery, the better result you can gain.

 

Case 10: Female, 57 years old. She runs own family care service and looking after four children. She had right shoulder periarthritis for more than seven months, with 60 degrees of abduction, and the right upper limb could not move backwards. Her activities were significantly limited and could not hold the  child, so she came to my clinic for treatment. Because of work, she came to my clinic for treatment once a week. After four acupuncture and massage treatments, the pain in her right shoulder joint was relieved. She could raise it to 160 degrees. Her right upper limb could touch her left hip, then she stopped treatment. The patient thought that it would not affect her work, and the remaining pain would be cured naturally, which would be faster.