An Integrative Approach To Treating Shoulder Pain

There are many ways to treat shoulder pain. This is just one way that I treat shoulder pain. In this case study, my patient has developed chronic upper back and shoulder pain due to her intense, serious workout regimen. I’m going to integrate traditional Chinese medicine with myofascial release techniques to kick this pain in the butt.

I’m going to start this treatment with acupuncture in Orlando. On that note, I want to add something. Every practitioner and healer has their own style that they’ve developed over time and practice and it works for them and their patients. As an acupuncturist,my style is minimalist. I use as minimal amount of needles on a patient as I can while getting the required results.

If your acupuncturist uses more or less, it doesn’t mean they are wrong, it’s just their style. For my needling placement for this patient, I am using tenderness in the area as my guide. I’ll be hitting the muscle belly of the supraspinatus and linking through the rhomboids and adding some electrical stimulation. Pain, tenderness and spasm on one or more of the segments of the thoracic spine is pretty common.

I see a ton of this kind of back pathology in my clinic. The fascia can become glued down so my goal at this point is to mobilize and separate the fascia. I want to start loosening the fascia with some internal and external rotation to the traps (trapezoid muscles) and superior border of the scapula.

And now, heavy hot stones.

First, I go to work with my stones rubbing the neck and the levator scapulae. I just love to hit that erector spinae muscle group and then fanout towards the medial aspect of the shoulder blades and hit those rhomboids. I’ll wrap up this treatment with some cervical decompression techniques. I want those vertebral discs to suck in interstitial fluid and metabolic substrates.

I also want to create some joint play and cervical mobilization with some side bending.

That’s it. I hope this article will give you a better understanding of an integrative a medical approach to treating shoulder pain. This is just one approach.