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Special Topics
"There are Screws in my Shoulder"
Shoulder pain treated with acupuncture
"There are screws in my shoulder!" That is how the patient described his pain.
For his age (80) he keeps fairly active, despite being on his third hip replacement and with reduced lung function. He still drives locally and has a busy social life mainly centred around playing Bridge and coffee shops. Clearly there were no actual screws in his shoulder but that was how it felt in bed and he could no longer lie comfortably on the affected side. All he wanted was for me to take the pain away which I am happy to say I did, using acupuncture.
The main source of his pain was a muscle called the supraspinatus which is one of the four muscles called the "rotator cuff". If you stand up with your arm hanging by your side and then take the arm out sideways, it is the supraspinatus that starts the movement off. It is a difficult muscle to reach easily but with acupuncture there is no problem, I used a 3cm needle to treat the muscle near its attachment to the shoulder blade and the whole treatment was done sitting in a chair for 20 minutes. I added a couple of other points to treat neighbouring muscles, deltoid and trapezius which were also tender. Two sessions of this treatment a week apart were all it took, he is now out of pain and has been for over a month. He knows he can have a top-up if he needs it in future and is a happy patient. So happy that he gave me permission to share his treatment story here.
Photo shows LI16 going into supraspinatus and GB21 going into trapezius |
Photo shows LI16 |
Photo shows LI15 going into lateral deltoid |
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Contact Bill Ferguson
Osteopath Tenterden
Book an osteopathy appointment now
Tel: 01580 762754
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