Will Acupuncture help this?

Question

I've never really tried it, but does anyone know if this could help two things I deal with:
- Frozen shoulder- its a condition that causes pain and limited movement. Im told by a doc that it should go away in some number of months. Id like to make that sooner than later.
- Tremor- I have shaky hands. My doc says it a benign tremor that causes me to shake when I try not to shake. Its very annoying.

Thanks

Answer 1

Acupuncture can help you.
I don't like the tremors, this might indicated another problem. (are the tremors muscle spasm) Tremors are not related to the shoulder.
I will do an MRI maybe an Needle EMG to rule out any nerve damage.
And just in case you decide to go to an acupuncturist here are the points that I used for Frozen Shoulder: LI 15 and 16, TH 15, SI 12, SI 10, TH 5, St 37, LI 4.

Answer 2

Acupuncture and Frozen Shoulder
Treatment Plus Exercise Better than Exercise Alone
By Michael Devitt, contributing editor

The term "frozen shoulder" is used to describe a variety of conditions that cause pain and limit the range of motion of the shoulder joint. Most commonly caused by inflammation of synovial tissue or thickening of synovial fluid, frozen shoulder occurs mainly in middle-aged people who have a history of shoulder injuries. In some cases, the pain associated with frozen shoulder can be severe enough to disturb a person's sleep; in others, patients cannot rotate the shoulder properly and have difficulty moving the affected arm out and away from the body.

Once a person is diagnosed with frozen shoulder, the initial stages of care are aimed at reducing inflammation and increasing range of motion. Toward that end, various treatment methods have been devised, including anti-inflammatory drugs, ultrasound, heat, massage, and stretching and isometric exercises. Steroid injections and nerve blocks have also been employed at times, but the effectiveness of these therapies can vary greatly from patient to patient.

Several studies have reported that acupuncture can successfully treat frozen shoulder, but the majority of these studies have not been of the randomized, controlled trial (RCT) variety. A new study using the RCT format compared the use of acupuncture (along with exercise) to exercise alone in a small group of frozen shoulder patients. The study, published in the Hong Kong Medical Journal, found that patients treated with acupuncture and exercise demonstrated "significantly greater improvement" on shoulder assessment tests than those using just exercise, and suggests that acupuncture could be useful in cases where more conventional therapies have been unsuccessful.

Thirty-five adults diagnosed with frozen shoulder were randomly allocated to an exercise group or an exercise plus acupuncture group and treated for six weeks. Exercise patients participated in a standard group program of gentle stretching exercises under the supervision of a licensed physiotherapist. Treatment sessions lasted 30 minutes and were given twice a week for six weeks. In addition, patients were told to perform a series of shoulder exercises 10 times each morning, mid-day and evening at home during the trial period.

The exercise/acupuncture group followed the same home and group exercise programs as the exercise group, but also received acupuncture twice a week during the trial. A three-inch, 30-gauge needle was inserted perpendicular to zhongping, an extra acupuncture point located on the lower leg along the stomach meridian. Zhongping was chosen based on the belief that stimulating it can "improve the flow of qi across the shoulder."






A contralateral needling technique was used, in which the right-side acupoint was used for left frozen shoulder and vice-versa. The needle was inserted to a depth of 2.5 inches, followed by wide-amplitude needle rotation simultaneously with lifting and thrusting to produce de qi. The needle was retained for 20 minutes, with three one-minute needle manipulations made during the treatment period. While being needled, the patient also performed a series of functional exercises using the affected shoulder.

Subjects in both groups were assessed using a test called the Constant Shoulder Assessment, which combines patient ratings for pain and activities of daily living with range of motion measurements for a maximum score of 100 points. Assessments were taken at three intervals: baseline (just prior to the start of the study); at the completion of treatment; and at 20 weeks.

CSA scores were relatively equal for both groups at the beginning of the study. Within six weeks, however "significantly higher" scores were reported in patients receiving acupuncture and exercise, with an average improvement rate nearly twice that of the exercise-only group. These improvements were also seen at the 20 week follow-up test (see Table I).

Table I: Constant Shoulder Assessment scores and percentage of improvement following treatment.
Group CSA score, baseline CSA score, 6 weeks CSA score, 20 weeks % improvement from baseline, 6 weeks % improvement from baseline, 20 weeks
Exercise 42.8 57.6 57.9 39.8% 40.3%
Exercise plus acupuncture 41.3 66.8 67.3 76.4% 77.2%

Answer 3

Consider talking to a chiropractor - specialized in Manipulation - Spinal adjustment - can help.