Cranial Therapy – Shoulder Pain, Frozen Shoulder, Elbow Pain and Tennis Elbow

Cranial Therapy (also known as Cranial Sacral Therapy, Craniosacral Therapy or CST) can help shoulder and elbow problems which are often associated with back and neck problems.

Niel Asher Technique for Frozen Shoulder and Rotator Cuff Injuries

Shoulder pain is something I've seen a lot of people with over the years as a therapist, but I wanted to continue with further training in this area.

So I attended the Advanced Shoulder Pain Workshop run by the renowned Simeon Neil Asher, which gives focused training in treating shoulder problems, including frozen shoulder and rotator cuff injuries.

If you have researched shoulder pain treatment you may have come across the Niel-Asher Technique (NAT). It has been tested against physiotherapy and placebo in a hospital based randomized placebo controlled trial at Addenbrookes. It was found to give patients a considerable increase in their movement and significant reduction in pain levels

Frozen shoulder is difficult to treat, but with NAT you should see increased range of movement within 8-12 treatments, with the pain reduced within 5 sessions.

Shoulder Pain

Shoulder pain symtpoms can vary from a dull nagging ache over the shoulder, to sharp pain when using the arm. There may also be stiffness in the joint.

Often shoulder pain is brought on because the shoulder is having to work harder when you use your arms and hands, to make up for problems elsewhere e.g. in the back and neck.

The shoulder is a complex joint because it’s job is to have a large range of movement.

It’s not actually just one joint, but made up of five joints, together with lots of ligaments and bursae (cushions) and muscle tendons running through the joint. Any of these structures can cause shoulder pain.

Elbow Pain and Tennis Elbow (Lateral Epicondylitis)

Tennis elbow pain can impact on the simplest of tasks like lifting a kettle and turning a jar lid.

It is actually very common, not just in sports people, manual workers and gardeners but also in computer based workers who extend their wrists a lot when typing.

It occurs because the muscles which work to move the wrist become very tight with overuse, and pull on the bone at the elbow. This causes inflammation and pain.

Hands on treatment looks at not just the local site of pain, but also at the mechanics of your wrist, elbow, shoulder, upper back and neck. The muscles, ligaments and joints will be examined and treated.