Just now in winter, I have seen a big increase in patients coming in with frozen shoulder.
Frozen shoulder, also called ‘adhesive capsulitis’, is a very painful condition that limits the movement of one – if you are a very unlucky, both- shoulder joint(s).
While the individual presentation can vary, typically, it is split up into three phases of three months each or more: freezing (continuously getting worse) – frozen – defrosting;
Chinese medicine takes a very literal approach to frozen shoulders .. if something is frozen, what do you do? You thaw it - again and again.
In this case you need acupuncture and moxa. Moxa is a soothing technique where you hold a warm herbal stick over an acupuncture needle in order to warm up the surrounding skin and tissues.
If you tend to freeze a lot in general, some warming herbal formula might also be appropriate.