3^rd Free Class:  What self-healing techniques can you use?

Introduction Recap:  In the video for the first class Why is Your Shoulder Frozen? I explained that frozen shoulder is due to adhesive capsulitis, what that actually means, how to diagnose it, and possible causes. In the video for the second class What Professional Treatments are Available? I explained your treatment options regarding drugs and injections, manual methods, anesthesia required approaches and Chinese medicine. If you missed those videos, you can use the email links to go back and watch them, and they will also be on the course pages.

I’m Dr. Larry Burk, and I have been a musculoskeletal radiologist for the past 35 years.  I am also a Certified Energy Health Practitioner and a mind-body coach. I co-founded Duke Integrative Medicine and am certified in hypnosis and acupuncture.  I am also trained in an ideal mind-body method that combines both of these approaches known as Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) or tapping.

In 2017, I started teaching EFT courses for the public at Duke Integrative Medicine and shifted my coaching practice to mostly online via Skype or Zoom. More information about my coaching program can be found at www.larryburk.com.

Reasons I am Teaching:  I was one of the original researchers for shoulder MRI, and I’ve read 1000s of scans, including numerous with frozen shoulder. I’ve also treated frozen shoulder patients successfully starting in integrative medicine and now in my coaching practice. I had my own frozen shoulder and using all the self-healing approaches I’ve learned I was able to heal quickly in a matter of weeks rather than months and months of suffering. My hope for these classes is that you will be able to obtain similar amazing results from what you learn here.

Introduction:  In this video I will review all the possible self-healing options that you can explore prior to investing time and money on professional treatments which can be painful and have associated risks. Many of the approaches described below are relatively inexpensive and safe. After you educate yourself the results often depend on which ones resonate with you and whether you are persistent in your pursuit of a breakthrough. Our natural impulse is to look for someone to fix us instead of doing the work of self-healing.

Diet:  There are many anti-inflammatory diets to choose from, and no single approach is right for everyone. However, there are some general guidelines that apply to most people.  The first change to make is to eliminate processed foods, especially sugar which is a primary cause of inflammation in the body. Diabetics are particularly prone to frozen shoulder for this reason. Other useful recommendations include eating healthy types of fat and fermented foods.

Nutritional Supplements:  There are many supplements which have anti-inflammatory properties, although adding these to your regimen may be associated with increased costs. Vitamins and minerals can also have an impact, although there is considerable misinformation and hype circulating on the Internet and discernment is required to sort through the various fads. Just adding more whole foods to your diet may be sufficient to provide these vital nutrients instead taking a lot of pills and capsules and making expensive urine.

Homeopathy:  Homeopathic remedies are extreme dilutions of animal, mineral or plant substances taken in the form of a sugar pill which do not follow the scientific rules of pharmacology and are viewed with skepticism by conventional medicine.  However, there is some scientific evidence that they can be effective for a variety of conditions beyond the placebo effect. The protocols may vary depending on whether it is the right or left shoulder that is frozen. This approach is inexpensive with few side effects.

Qi Gong:  Like Tai Chi simple Chinese movement and breathing exercises can be used to promote the flow of qi through the meridians. The Five Animal Frolics are based on Chinese five element theory which is related to the natural cycles of nature. Each of the elements is associated with a corresponding animal. The gentle movements stimulate the meridians that pass through the shoulder and can be used to restore health and well-being.

Meditation: There are many forms of meditation from concentrating on a mantra like Transcendental Meditation to cultivating awareness of the breath in mindfulness. Most of the approaches offer benefits of stress reduction when practiced regularly.  The physiological changes associated with meditation may contribute to decreasing inflammation in the shoulder. Quieting the mind often allows disturbing thoughts and emotions to arise into conscious awareness to be healed.

Expressive Writing: Spending time journaling has documented health benefits especially if the focus is on emotionally upsetting experiences. There are structured ways of writing to heal that boost the immune system and may have an anti-inflammatory effect on frozen shoulder. Once the feelings have been expressed on paper it can be shredded or burned to release them.

Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) Tapping: Upsetting emotional events are like malware programs that get downloaded into the acupuncture meridians and uploaded into the limbic system in the brain. In each memory file there is a picture, story and program which will run when triggered taking the body back to the scene of the original emotional event which may be related to anger in frozen shoulder. With EFT the file is intentionally activated by saying a target phrase while tapping on acupuncture points like hitting delete keys on a computer and uninstalling the malware programs.

Self-Hypnosis: Hypnosis can be used to install new mind-body programs with beneficial effects. Visualization and imagery can be combined with color breathing techniques and therapeutic shaking to reset the body’s energy system. These approaches can assist in accessing positive memories, reframing past emotional events and shifting the focus to future achievable goals for healing.

Dreams: Many books have been written about interpretation of symbols in dreams. Health-related dreams may take the form of scary nightmares which force us to pay attention to subtle messages from the body that we may have been ignoring. Keeping a dream diary can provide useful guidance regarding puzzling illnesses like frozen shoulder.  I wrote a book about it called Dreams that Can Save Your Life.

Chinese five elements:  Chinese five element theory is a symbolic way of understanding the body in terms corresponding to five different seasons of the year.  Each element is associated with two organs and an emotion which can be a cause of imbalance and disharmony. An emotional disturbance can be thought of in terms of e-motion or energy in motion. Disruptions in the natural flow of qi through the cycle of the elements results in disease which can be healed using Chinese medicine or EFT.

Symptoms as Metaphors:  Symptoms may manifest in the body as somatic metaphors such as the angry red lining of the joint which is seen in frozen shoulder at the time of surgery.  There are many books about symbolic messages from the body written by Louise Hay and others that have encyclopedic lists of symptoms and their corresponding metaphysical meanings. Rheumatologist/psychiatrist Brian Broom from New Zealand has explored many of these concepts from the perspective of psychosomatic medicine. The standard approach in Western medicine is to attempt to suppress symptoms using drugs which often have side effects. Other medical systems consider symptoms to be messages from the body informing us about imbalances in need of correcting. These systems honor the messenger rather than shooting it. 

Chakra Energy Centers: In some Eastern traditions, energy is organized in the body through the seven chakras beginning at the root chakra near the sacrum and extending upward to the crown chakra at the top of the head. Imbalances in each chakra are associated with physical and emotional disturbances which may correlate with dysfunction in nearby endocrine organs. Medical intuitives and energy healers may be able to access information about these energy centers to guide the healing process.

Case report:  I was 51 when I experienced gradual onset of right shoulder pain in 2006 without a precipitating injury after some mild stretching exercises. Over the next couple weeks, I had increasing pain and stiffness with limited range of motion and knew I was getting a frozen shoulder.  I recognized right away that it had been triggered by progressively intensifying political anger related to the reelection of George W. Bush. I had acupuncture and massage therapy without relief. I tapped emphatically and screamed about my intense frustration with the Neocon administration which I could do nothing about, and it took a few weeks for my shoulder pain to subside and move quickly through the frozen stage into thawing. My shoulder was completely better in a couple months rather than years.  

Next Class: What is my ultimate healing combination?  I will outline a practical way to pull all these approaches together for optimal healing benefits and also discuss how considering your symptoms as metaphors can be useful in guiding the healing process. I want to let you know that next week I will be making an offer regarding the second half of this course which will start the week after that. I have modified my original plans based on feedback you have already given me in our Facebook group. It seems that some of you may have other causes of shoulder pain different from frozen shoulder.  For that reason. it will be called the Shoulder Pain Rapid Healing Course consisting of 4 experiential live interactive Zoom group sessions to learn my ultimate sequence of 6 favorite methods of self-healing.

Registration will be open from Monday to Friday and the course will start the following Monday. Bonus gifts will be given for registering including handouts on anti-inflammatory diets and supplements, MRI of rotator cuff tear and other diseases, plus one surprise bonus gift.

Private Facebook group:  Please click on the link to join, so you can post comments and questions to which I will respond either online or in the last video class.  I look forward to your feedback. See you in a few days on the last video. Thanks, Larry