Key Points for Diagnosis:
Neck pain and shoulder stiffness can have a variety of causes, with continuous mechanical strain, constant stress, and trauma being the most frequently cited. Keeping your head in an awkward position can cause your neck muscles to fatigue, circulation in the tissues to diminish, and the joints to "lock" in place. This is a very common occurrence in office workers who sit in front of a computer and type for extensive periods of time. Trauma can cause a "whiplash" syndrome, with the muscles in your neck going into permanent spasm and causing pain and a limited range of motion. Acupuncture and acupressure or tui-na are very effective in treating neck pain caused by whiplash.

Constant stress is also a common factor in neck/shoulder stiffness and pain. Being under constant stress causes the sympathetic nervous system to become hypersensitive, like always being in the "flight or fight" mode. As many of us tend to "hold" much of our stress in the upper body, neck and shoulders, this can cause constant muscle spasm, a corresponding lack of circulation and nutrition to the tissues, leading to neck and shoulder pain and stiffness.

In TCM, a disease or a symptom might be caused by one pathogenic factor, even two or three pathogenic factors. When diagnosing a disease or a symptom, TCM doctors must follow the principle of "Syndrome Dfferentiation", and then "Suit the Remedy to the Case". In order to gain a more definite and valuable diagnosis, it's important and necessary for the doctor to learn the detailed health information of the patient, including his/her disease duration, age, sex, height, weight, family history, urine, stool, diet, sleep, sweat, energy, mood (emotion), as well as the tongue conditions and the palm conditions, etc. If you would want our expert to create a TCM diagnosis, you're welcome to contact us.