Shoulder & Neck Pain
Your neck and shoulders contain muscles, bones, nerves, arteries, and veins, as well as many ligaments and other supporting structures. Many conditions can cause pain in these areas. Some are life-threatening (such as heart attack and major trauma), and others are less dangerous (such as simple strains or contusions).
Causes Of Shoulder & Neck Pain
The most common cause of shoulder and neck pain is injury to the soft tissues, including the muscles, tendons, and ligaments within these structures.
Keeping your head in an awkward position can fatigue your neck muscles, diminish circulation in the tissues, and cause the joints to “lock” in place. This is common in office workers who sit in front of a computer and type for extensive periods. Trauma can cause a “whiplash” syndrome, with the muscles in your neck going into permanent spasms and causing pain and a limited range of motion.
Constant stress is also common in neck/shoulder stiffness and pain. Being under constant stress causes the sympathetic nervous system to become hypersensitive, like always being in the “flight or fight” mode. As many of us tend to “hold” much of our stress in the upper body, neck, and shoulders, this can cause constant muscle spasms and a corresponding lack of circulation and nutrition to the tissues, leading to neck and shoulder pain and stiffness.
Degenerative arthritis of the spine (cervical spine) can pinch nerves, causing neck and shoulder pain. Degenerative disc disease in the neck (cervical spondylosis) can cause local neck pain. Abnormal conditions involving the spinal cord, heart, lungs, and some abdominal organs can also cause neck and shoulder pain.
Acupuncture For Shoulder & Neck Pain
Acupuncture is the first option and most effective treatment for shoulder and neck pain in China. Many scientists have conducted extensive research on its anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving functions. The research has revealed that acupuncture can stimulate the body and the spinal cord to produce endorphins, which, in combination with the opiate receptor in the brain, can effectively relieve pain.
When you put needles in certain places in the body, you relieve pressure, often on a nerve that affects the head, such as a cranial nerve. By relieving that pressure on a nerve, the muscles begin to relax, blood begins to flow into an area, and pain is released partially through that mechanism and partially through the nervous system, which releases endorphins and encephalins.
How long will the treatment take?
The frequency of treatment is a key element in achieving good results. In the UK, the patient can accept a treatment frequency of once or twice a week. Generally, three to five treatments over a short period of time (2 – 4 weeks) are sufficient to produce substantial results. In the acute stage, one treatment every other day is administered. In the chronic stage, 2 treatments per week are recommended, and in the remission period, once per week. The preventive treatment is once a month. Normally a course of 10-20 treatments is appropriate.
Chinese acupuncture treatment is suitable for acute, sub-acute, and chronic shoulder and neck pain and is particularly effective for inflammation cases. To achieve the best results during treatment, a combination of several Chinese acupuncture techniques should be used. Meanwhile, according to the individual conditions, adding Chinese herbal medicine may be necessary to achieve these best results.
Assisting Treatment
Although Acupuncture is the main treatment for shoulder and neck pain in our medical center, assisting treatments are always recommended for pain with medium to severe symptoms.
Acupressure (Chinese Medical Massage)
Massage helps to relieve pressure in certain muscles or along certain nerves. The body then begins to relax, and the blood flows correctly. It will shorten the course of treatment and increase the curative effect.
Herbs
Herbs help maintain and enhance acupuncture’s effects in relieving spasms, local relaxation, stopping pain, calming, and regulating the whole body. They also have an anti-inflammatory effect. For inflammations in deeper tissues and joints, herbs are better than acupuncture alone at clearing inflammation.
Frequency Spectrum Lamp Treatment
Heat stimulation at the local acupuncture area can improve local blood circulation and enhance the absorption of inflammation. It can not only make the patient feel comfortable while retaining the needles but also enhance the effects of acupuncture.
Cupping
Cupping affects the body’s tissue up to four inches deep. This causes tissue to release toxins, clears blockages, activates the lymphatic system and helps to clear the veins and arteries. Cupping is thought to be the best form of deep tissue massage available and is safe and reliable for most people.
Research & Evidence
“Our study shows that acupuncture can be an effective treatment for chronic neck pain, if the objective is to relieve pain and to improve mobility to the cervical spine,” said Dr Dominik Irnich of Ludwig-Maximilians University Germany
He D, Høstmark AT, Veiersted KB, Medbo JI. Effect of intensive acupuncture on pain-related social and psychological variables for women with chronic neck and shoulder pain – an RCT with six months and three years follow up. Acupunct Med 2005; 23: 52–61.
This study examined whether or not intensive acupuncture treatment can improve several social and psychological variables for women with chronic pain in the neck and shoulders, and if possible effects are long-lasting. The effects on pain have been reported elsewhere. Twenty-four female office workers who had had neck and shoulder pain for 12±9 years were randomly assigned to a test group or a control group.
Acupuncture was applied 10 times during 3 to 4 weeks at presumed acupuncture points for pain (test group) or sham points (control group). In addition, massage was given to patients between treatments at either real or sham points. Questionnaires for social and psychological variables were completed before each treatment, just after the course and 6 months and 3 years later.
The pain-related activity impairment at work was significantly less in the test group than in the controls by the end of treatment. Also, there were significant differences between the groups for quality of sleep, anxiety, depression and satisfaction with life. At 6 months and 3 years follow-ups, the acupuncture group showed further improvements in most variables and was again significantly different from the control group.
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