We report the case of a patient with limited range of motion (ROM) of the left shoulder joint after radiation therapy for a lymph node on the left side of the neck. In this patient, ROM for shoulder elevation was improved by remote acupuncture therapy. At the start of the treatment, the patient's limited shoulder joint ROM was attributed to limited upward rotation of the scapula due to limited backward rotation of the clavicle due to skin contraction around the left sternoclavicular joint. Since the skin contraction could not be improved, we reassessed the case. We confirmed overactivity of the anterior fibers of the deltoid muscle and hypotonia of the supraspinatus muscle at the start of the shoulder joint elevation, and manual therapy was therefore initiated. However, the patient showed a defensive muscular contraction and compensatory movements, and the muscle activity did not improve. We therefore considered that improvement of the muscle activity by local treatment was difficult and remote acupuncture therapy, which was reported to be effective in a previous study, was administered. Acupuncture treatment was administered at the Wenliu (LI7) point leading to the anterior fibers of the deltoid muscle and at the Waiguan (TE5) point leading to the supraspinatus muscle. As a result, the activity of the supraspinatus muscle increased and the shoulder joint ROM elevation improved to 120 degrees.
抄録全体を表示