Clinical study on primary frozen shoulder treated by warm acupuncture, manipulation combined with western medicine

Abstract

Objective To evaluate the clinical effect of warm acupuncture,manipulation combined with western medicine in the treatment of primary frozen shoulder. Methods A total of 90 patients with primary frozen shoulder, from October 2015 to February 2017, were randomly divided into three groups (n=30): the western medicine group, the traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) group and the integrated TCM and western medicine group. The western medicine group was treated with local block and intra-articular injection. The TCM group was treated with acupuncture combined with manipulation. The integrated TCM and western medicine group were treated with western medicine and TCM. The three groups were treated for four weeks. The shoulder function (Constant-Murley shoulder scores) and shoulder pain (VAS scores) were evaluated in the three groups after treatment. Results The effective rate in TCM and western medicine group was 100% versus TCM group 83.3%,and Western medicine group 76.7%, which showed significantly higher differnce among three groups (P<0.05). The Constant-Murley shoulder scores in TCM and western medicine group were (72.4 ± 3.8 vs. 67.5 ± 4.5, 58.9 ± 5.4), which were significantly higher than those in TCM group and western medicine group (P<0.05). The VAS scores in TCM and western medicine group were (1.6 ± 0.7 vs. 2.5 ± 0.8, 2.7 ± 0.7) which were lower than those in TCM group and western medicine group (P<0.05). Conclusions The combination of warm acupuncture, manipulation and western medicine could improve shoulder function and reduce shoulder pain in patients with primary frozen shoulder.. Key words: Frozen shoulder; Needle warming therapy; Manipulation; Point TE14(Jianliao); Point LI15(Jianyu); Point SI9(Jianzhen)