title: Immediate Pain Relief in Adhesive Capsulitis by Acupuncture-A Randomized Controlled Double-Blinded Study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Primary adhesive capsulitis (AC), or frozen shoulder, is an insidious and idiopathic disease. Severe pain is predominant in the first two of the three stages of the condition, which can last up to 21 months.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixty volunteers with primary AC were randomly assigned to acupuncture with press tack needles compared with press tack placebos in a patient- and observer-blinded placebo-controlled study. The participants were subsequently offered classical needle acupuncture in an open follow-up clinical application. Thirty-four volunteers received conservative therapy, including 10 classical needle acupuncture treatments over 10 weeks, 13 volunteers received conservative therapy without classical needle acupuncture. All subjects agreed to follow-up after one year.
  
  
  METHODS
  Acupuncture treatment was performed using a specific distal needling concept, using reflex areas on distant extremities avoiding local treatment.
  
  
  RESULTS
  An immediate improvement of 3.3 ± 3.2 points in Constant-Murley Shoulder Score (CMS) pain subscore was seen in the press tack needles group and of 1.6 ± 2.8 points in the press tack placebos group (P <0.02). Conservative therapy including classical needle acupuncture significantly improved the pain subscore within 14.9 ± 15.9 weeks compared with 30.9 ± 15.8 weeks with only conservative therapy (P < 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The efficiency of distal needling acupuncture on immediate pain reduction was demonstrated in patients with AC and confirmed the applicability of press tack needles and press tack placebos for double-blind studies in acupuncture. Subsequent clinical application observation proved that results obtained with press tack needles/press tack placebos can be transferred to classical needle acupuncture. Integrating acupuncture with conservative therapy showed superior effectiveness with respect to the time course of the recovery process in AC compared with conservative therapy alone.
authors.affiliation: HanseMerkur Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Sven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schröder
authors.affiliation: HanseMerkur Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Gesa
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Meyer-Hamme
authors.affiliation: HanseMerkur Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Friedemann
authors.affiliation: HanseMerkur Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kirch
authors.affiliation: Departments of Neurology.|Neurophysiology and Pathophysiology.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hauck
authors.affiliation: Medical Biometry and Epidemiology.
authors.forename: Rosemarie
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Plaetke
authors.affiliation: HanseMerkur Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Sunja
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Friedrichs
authors.affiliation: Medical Biometry and Epidemiology.
authors.forename: Amit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gulati
authors.affiliation: Trauma, Hand, and Reconstructive Surgery, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Briem
mesh_terms: D015670:Acupuncture Therapy; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002062:Bursitis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D059408:Pain Management; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000379:methods; D020127:Recovery of Function / Q000502:physiology; D020069:Shoulder Pain / Q000628:therapy*
keywords: Acupuncture; Adhesive capsulitis; Constant-Murley Shoulder Score; Double-blinded study; Frozen shoulder; Press Tack Needle