Thomas has had Chronic Shoulder Pain resolved with Acupuncture Treatments!

When Thomas came to me for pain in his shoulder, he was severely uncomfortable. He could barely move his arm. As a physical therapy student, that was very alarming for him, since his job required him to have mobility in his shoulder and arm.

For Thomas, acupuncture wasn’t his first stop in trying to resolve his chronic shoulder pain. He had been to the chiropractor and massage therapist, with no results. Worse, his medical doctor only offered him pain medicine. That was definitely out of the question for Thomas, because he needed to feel sharp for his studies and his physical therapy work.

Desparate, he decided to try acupuncture. When he came to me, he was very anxious about the situation but willing to try anything. Since my training is in myofacial pain relief, I palpated his arm, shoulder, neck and upper back. Thomas was surprised that I took the time to do that. He said, “No other doctor took the time to actually feel where in my body the pain is originating from.” I explained to him that this was the only true way to know how and where to treat the symptoms.”

It’s called a pain reaction pattern. Because the truth is that 10 people could have what seems like an identical shoulder pain, but the source could be different for each of them.

After palpating Thomas’ shoulder, I discovered that in his case–as is for about 1/3 of the people I see who complain of upper body pain–his trapezius was almost frozen with muscle tension.

When I questioned him about this, Thomas was surprised. He wasn’t consciously aware that he was holding his shoulders so tightly. He was relieved and hopeful that finally he was getting some answers for his chronic shoulder pain.

That first acupuncture session brought Thomas great relief and eased his chronic shoulder pain for the first time in months. After just 3 treatments his pain was completely resolved and he went back to work.

Chronic shoulder pain is just one of the many ailments that I help people with at the Acupuncture Center of Bradenton.