Are You Experiencing Any of These Symptoms?
- Severe shoulder or upper arm pain when raising your arm
- Pain when reaching your arm behind your back
- Throbbing shoulder pain while sleeping at night
- Shoulder pain when turning over in bed
- Difficulty raising your arm
- Difficulty getting dressed because of limited shoulder movement
- Difficulty washing or tying your hair
- Persistent shoulder pain even after being diagnosed with frozen shoulder
If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, you may be suffering from frozen shoulder.
At Elle Acupuncture in Ikebukuro, Tokyo, we provide acupuncture treatment for frozen shoulder and shoulder pain using trigger point acupuncture.
What Is Frozen Shoulder?
Frozen shoulder is a condition that commonly affects people in their 40s, 50s, and 60s. It is also known medically as adhesive capsulitis.
As we age, the tendons, ligaments, and joint capsule surrounding the shoulder joint may undergo degenerative changes. Inflammation and stiffness can then develop around the shoulder joint, resulting in pain and restricted movement.
Frozen shoulder is different from ordinary shoulder stiffness.
Typical shoulder stiffness is often associated with muscle tension in the neck and shoulder area. Frozen shoulder, however, involves inflammation and stiffness of the tissues surrounding the shoulder joint itself.
Frozen shoulder may gradually improve over time. However, when shoulder movement remains limited for a prolonged period, the joint can become increasingly stiff and the range of motion may decrease.
If you have severe pain or persistent difficulty moving your shoulder, it is important to first consult an orthopedic doctor or another appropriate medical professional to determine the cause.
Trigger Point Acupuncture for Frozen Shoulder
Frozen shoulder does not affect only the shoulder joint.
When shoulder movement becomes painful, people naturally begin to protect the painful shoulder. As a result, the muscles surrounding the shoulder blade, upper arm, back, and neck may become excessively tight.
At Elle Acupuncture, we use trigger point acupuncture to address this muscular tension.
A trigger point is a sensitive and tight area within a muscle that may cause pain locally or in another part of the body.
For example, if you feel pain in your shoulder or upper arm when raising your arm, simply inserting acupuncture needles into the painful area may not always be sufficient.
One of the important points is to carefully examine the muscles around the shoulder blade and upper back.
Trigger points in these muscles may contribute to pain felt in the shoulder or upper arm.
For this reason, our treatment does not focus only on the area where the patient feels pain. We assess the condition of the muscles in the shoulder, upper arm, shoulder blade area, upper back, and neck, and provide acupuncture treatment to the areas that may be contributing to the symptoms.
By reducing excessive muscle tension with trigger point acupuncture, some patients experience less pain and greater ease of shoulder movement.
Specialized Training in Trigger Point Acupuncture
Through many years of clinical experience, the director of Elle Acupuncture found that traditional acupuncture based only on conventional acupuncture points was not always sufficient for certain cases of shoulder and arm pain.
To expand her treatment approach, she studied trigger point acupuncture under Professor Kuroiwa of Kansai University of Health Sciences, a leading specialist in the field of trigger point acupuncture.
This training enabled her to incorporate a more detailed understanding of muscle anatomy, muscle function, and patterns of referred pain into acupuncture treatment.
Today, Elle Acupuncture combines traditional Eastern medicine with an anatomical approach to provide individualized acupuncture treatment according to each patient’s symptoms and physical condition.
Why Treating Only the Painful Area May Not Be Enough
Patients with frozen shoulder often describe their symptoms in different ways:
“My shoulder hurts in the front.”
“I feel pain on the outside of my upper arm.”
“I have pain running from my shoulder into my upper arm.”
However, the area where you feel pain is not necessarily the same place where the muscular problem originates.
For this reason, at Elle Acupuncture we carefully assess not only the shoulder itself but also the muscles surrounding the shoulder blade, upper back, neck, and upper arm.
Our goal with trigger point acupuncture is to reduce excessive muscle tension and help patients move their shoulders more comfortably.
Acupuncture for Frozen Shoulder and Shoulder Pain in Tokyo
Frozen shoulder can make even simple everyday activities difficult.
Raising your arm, changing clothes, washing your hair, reaching behind your back, or turning over in bed may become painful and frustrating.
Although frozen shoulder may improve naturally over time, persistent or severe symptoms should not simply be ignored. Medical evaluation is important, particularly when the pain is severe or when shoulder movement becomes significantly restricted.
After an appropriate medical assessment, acupuncture may be considered as one option for managing shoulder pain and muscle tension associated with frozen shoulder.
At Elle Acupuncture in Ikebukuro, Tokyo, we provide trigger point acupuncture for patients suffering from frozen shoulder, shoulder pain, and upper arm pain.
If you are looking for acupuncture for frozen shoulder in Tokyo or Ikebukuro, or if your shoulder and arm pain has continued for a long time, please feel free to contact Elle Acupuncture.
Profile of Director Hiroko Abe
The director of Elle Acupuncture is a licensed acupuncturist with 31 years of Acupuncture らexperience. She has studied not only in Japan but also in the United States and China, acquiring a broad range of knowledge and techniques in acupuncture treatment. Based on this extensive experience, she provides individualized acupuncture treatment tailored to each patient’s symptoms and condition.
In addition to trigger point acupuncture for pain relief, Acupuncture provides acupuncture treatment for a wide range of conditions, including menopausal symptoms, autonomic nervous system disorders, post-COVID conditions, intractable skin disorders, Parkinson’s disease, hemiplegia following cerebral infarction or cerebral hemorrhage, facial nerve paralysis, sudden sensorineural hearing loss, and other difficult-to-treat conditions.
If Hiroko Abe, the director of Elle Acupuncture, is fully booked, treatment will be provided by another experienced acupuncturist who has received training and guidance from her.
Elle Acupuncture
Access
7-minute walk from the East Exit of JR Ikebukuro Station (Yamanote Line)
Address
Lions Mansion Higashi-Ikebukuro No. 3, Room 502
1-31-13 Higashi-Ikebukuro, Toshima-ku, Tokyo 170-0013
Japan
Please make your appointment by LINE or email.
Business Hours
Reception Hours:
Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday & Sunday
11:00 AM – 6:00 PM
Treatment Fees
- Acupuncture Treatment: From ¥9,900 per session
- The base fee of ¥9,900 includes up to 30 acupuncture needles.
- If more than 30 needles are required, an additional ¥1,100 will be charged for every 10 extra needles.
Discount Package
10-Treatment Package: ¥88,000
