OBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinical efficacy of acupotomy stress position 
percutaneous dynamic release for severe shoulder periarthritis.
METHODS: From April 2012 to August 2016, 160 patients with severe shoulder 
periarthritis were randomly divided into treatment group and control group. 
Among them, 80 patients in treatment group were treated with acupotomy stress 
position percutaneous dynamic release including 32 males and 48 females with an 
average of(52.47±9.04)years old ranging from 40 to 74 years old;the courses of 
disease was(20.72±9.55)months on average. The other 80 patients in control group 
were treated with simple joint loosening according to Maitland technique in 
grade III-IV therapy, once a day, 15 to 20 min each time, and 10 d for 1 course, 
for a total of 2 courses, including 33 males and 47 females with an average of 
(53.19±10.18) years old ranging from 42 to 75 years old; the average course of 
disease was (21.98 ±8.99) months. After operation, the shoulder muscles training 
and shoulder joint activity training were routinely conducted, the treatment 
lasted for 3 weeks. The visual analogue scale(VAS) and Constant-Murley shoulder 
function score were observed and compared between the two groups before 
treatment and 3 weeks, 3, 6 months after treatment.
RESULTS: The VAS scores of the treatment group at 3 weeks, 3 and 6 months after 
treatment were all lower than those of the control group(P<0.05). The shoulder 
joint function Constant-Murley scores of the treatment group at 3 weeks, 3 and 6 
months after treatment were higher than those of the control group (P<0.05); the 
result was excellent in 59 cases, good in 18 cases, fair in 3 cases in the 
treatment group; excellent in 15 cases, good in 31 cases, fair in 23 cases, poor 
in 11 cases in the control group, and the difference between the two groups was 
statistically significant(P<0.01).
CONCLUSIONS: Treatment of severe shoulder periarthritis with acupotomy stress 
position percutaneous dynamic release can obviously improve the shoulder joint 
function and pain, according to the different parts of the shoulder joint pain 
and function limitation, the corresponding shoulder stress and body position 
should be designed and maintained during the treatment process, and the angle of 
stress position gradually increased by loosening the adhesion, which is the key 
to ensure the curative effect.