Acupuncture for Frozen Shoulder

Frozen shoulder can make reaching a high shelf, fastening a bra or simply sleeping on your side painful and difficult. Acupuncture is used alongside shoulder exercises to ease pain and stiffness, and in trials people who added acupuncture to their exercises improved more than those doing exercises alone. Our practitioners have been treating pain in London for 25 years.

Book an initial consultation or call 0207 935 2030 for a free 15-minute chat.

What causes frozen shoulder?

Frozen shoulder, also called adhesive capsulitis, happens when the tissue around the shoulder joint becomes inflamed, thickened and tight. It usually moves through three stages: a painful “freezing” stage, a stiff “frozen” stage and a slow “thawing” stage, and can last from one to three years. It is most common between 40 and 60, in women, and in people with diabetes or after a shoulder injury or surgery.

See your GP if shoulder pain follows a fall, if you can’t lift your arm at all, or if pain comes with chest pain, breathlessness or feeling unwell. Read about related problems on our neck pain and arthritis pages.

How acupuncture can help

For frozen shoulder, acupuncture is used to ease pain and stiffness so you can keep up the stretching and strengthening exercises that help the shoulder recover. Many patients find the painful early stage is when they most want extra help.

We also see other shoulder problems, such as rotator cuff pain and shoulder impingement. We’ll assess you, use acupuncture as one part of a plan alongside your exercises or physiotherapy, and tell you honestly if we think another approach would suit you better.

Researchers think acupuncture works partly by changing how nerves and the brain process pain signals, including the release of the body’s own pain-relieving chemicals. The exact mechanisms are still being studied.

Electro-acupuncture and infra-red heat lamps are often used alongside acupuncture for shoulder issues.

What the research shows

• Sun et al., 2001 (Hong Kong Medical Journal) — 35 people with frozen shoulder. Adding acupuncture to six weeks of shoulder exercises improved function, strength and pain by 76% compared with 40% for exercises alone, and the difference held at 20 weeks.
• Ben-Arie et al., 2020 (Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine) — 13 studies and 966 people. Acupuncture improved pain, shoulder function and forward movement of the arm in the short and medium term, though the authors rated the evidence low quality.

Research on acupuncture for frozen shoulder is still developing. Results vary between people, and acupuncture is not a replacement for medical assessment.

What to expect

Your first appointment lasts an hour. We take a full history, look at any scans or reports you bring, check how your shoulder moves, and agree a plan with you. Treatment uses very fine, single-use needles around the shoulder and elsewhere, left in for 15 to 20 minutes. Where suitable we may add electro-acupuncture, cupping or a heat lamp.

Most people start with weekly sessions and we review progress together after four to six. Initial consultations start from £80; see clinics and fees for details.

Why The London Acupuncture Clinic

• 25 years treating patients in London
• Degree-qualified practitioners who work alongside GPs and consultants, with close links to physiotherapists and chiropractors
• Open seven days a week, with early-morning and evening appointments
• Receipts for insurance claims on request

What our patients say

“I had a frozen shoulder Catherine resolved it, this was a year ago and no more problems.” — P.F., Google review