How Frozen Shoulder is treated using Chinese Sports Injury therapy at Joost Sport’s Injury Clinic
At Joost’s Sports Injury Clinic, Sunshine Coast, we encourage clients to embrace Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), we cannot stress enough the numerous and life changing benefits that it offers. In this week’s blog post we’re going to answer a question that a number of people have recently come in and asked.
Question: “What can you do to help my frozen shoulder?”
If you suffer from shoulder pain, unable to throw a ball, reach for a seat belt in the car or sleep on your side – chances are you’re suffering from some degree of “frozen shoulder”. If you think you have frozen shoulder and related injuries, aches or pains, we hope this blog post will help you warm up to the idea of an all-natural, non-surgical way to relieve pain and encourage healing.
Answer:
Frozen shoulder or adhesive capsulitis is a common complaint many patients have presented. The medical term adhesive capsulitis means ‘sticky’ and ‘inflammation of the joint capsule’. In line with TCM philosophy, pain and inflammation is caused when there is a disruption in the flow of Qi (energy) and blood and other fluid stagnation occurs because it is no longer free flowing, our main priority is to reduce inflammation, remove damaged tissue and regain full range of movement. When Qi is flowing we are in a perfect state of health and wellness. It is when there is an imbalance that we begin to fall ill and it manifests in various symptoms as a display of disharmony in the body.
Sports injuries, overuse of the shoulder, falling on the shoulder, repetitive heavy lifting with poor technique or posture are some causes of frozen shoulder and unfortunately many people delay treatment until frozen shoulder becomes a major issue, debilitating or worse. Therefore to avoid frozen shoulder, when you have an injury around the neck and shoulders, it should be treated immediately to avoid the chronic development of inflammation and blood stagnation.
A history of shoulder injuries, previous surgeries, diabetes, age (40+), sports participation, nature of work and other behavioural traits can all contribute to the severity of your frozen shoulder condition, therefore before any treatments start, it is important to be aware of your existing health background and activities that might have aggravated frozen shoulder.
We use treatments and traditional tried and tested medicines that aim to stimulate the flow of Qi and blood, encourage a pain-relieving effect, and deeply penetrate the area of discomfort with soothing warmth. Specialised massage therapy can assist frozen shoulder conditions because it increases blood flow to the injured area and helps to reduce scar tissue. The medicines are also a key factor in the dissipation of inflammation together with assisting the body dislodge and dispel all damaged tissue, thus creating freedom within the joint and along all joint tissue including the muscles, tendons, cartilage and bursa. Deep tissue massage will help reduce muscle stiffness and repeated treatments can lead to more permanent pain relief. With this technique, steady pressure is applied to the muscles to release adhesions or scar tissue that may be contributing to shoulder pain. Special attention is also paid to inflammation and damage associated with the bursa so that gradually un-impinged free range of movement returns to the joint.
In some circumstances, heat therapy in the form of moxibustion and poultices will be applied immediately before or after massage and is also very beneficial in treating frozen shoulder.
For any chronic and acute injuries, don’t delay, call today as advanced bookings are essential!
At Joost’s Sports Injury Clinic, Sunshine Coast you can learn more about TCM and treatments for Frozen Shoulder. Let’s defrost those frozen shoulder so you can get pain free and start living life to the fullest!