Comparing complementary alternative treatment for chronic shoulder pain of myofascial origin Collateral meridian therapy versus local tender area-related meridians therapy

Abstract

The aim of this study was to compare the short-term outcomes between 2 different treatments for unilateral chronic shoulder pain of myofascial origin, that is, local tender area related meridians (LTARMs) treatment and collateral meridian therapy (CMT), which were performed 6 times over a period of 4 weeks. Seventy patients with unilateral shoulder pain of chronic myofascial origin were enrolled. The patients were randomly assigned to 2 different treatment groups: 1 group received CMT (n=35) and the other received LTARM (n=35). Before and after the 2 treatment processes, all patients rated their overall pain intensity on a visual analogue scale (VAS) and a validated 13-question shoulder pain and disability index (SPADi) questionnaire was used to measure shoulder pain and functional impairment after therapy for 4 weeks. After CMT, the pain intensity was reduced after CMT. VAS score is reduced from 5.90±2.07 (a mean of 5.90 and standard deviation of 2.07) to 3.39±1.2. This was verified by the SPADi pain subscale scores (from 0.58±0.193 to 0.33±0.14). The pain-relief effect of CMT was significantly better than that of LTARM (VAS score from 5.78±1.64 to 4.58±1.40; P<0.005; SPADi pain subscale score from 0.58±0.16 to 0.45±0.14, P<0.001). In addition, the VAS scores of patients changed considerably in the CMT group after 4 weeks of treatment, where 63% of patients felt no or mild pain, whereas the VAS scores for moderate pain were even higher in the LTARM group in 75% of patients (P<0.001). Moreover, the SPADi disability subscale scores improved significantly in the CMT group because of their greater mobility associated with shoulder impairment (disability score: from 0.58±0.20 to 0.35± 0.14) than those in the LTARM group (disability score: from 0.55±0.17 to 0.44±0.14, P<0.001). CMT may be more effective in reducing chronic shoulder pain of myofascial origin than the LTARM treatment, where treatment with the former resulted in better functional recovery after 4 weeks than the latter.