Question
Dr. Tran,

I am getting so sick of this.  I wake up in the middle of the night and my throat is so tight I can hardly swollow, my scalp is really tight, all the way to the top, my neck is tight, the back of my neck and to my shoulders is like a rock all the time.  The tightness wraps around my chest and sometimes I can hardly breathe.  It even goes into my hips and feels like they are pulled tight so that the tendon at the top of my legs in my groin pops all the time.  My eyes and sinuses feel all tight also.  I have had two frozen shoulders so far because everything is so tight, my scapula keeps moving up, causing my shoulders to move forward and eventually the muscles around my shoulder are atrophied and i can't move them and then I end up with frozen shoulder.  I have tried almost everything. I can't figure out why this is happening.  Is it coming from my neck (I had an MRI and it shows only slight blulging of a disk, not abnormal at my age, which is 50) Is it coming from my sinuses or eyes?  Are my hips out of alignment (an exray shows my right hip is tilted back slightly).  None of these alone seem to be the problem, but I feel there is some tightness deep within that is pulling on everything else.  I am not too bad during the day when I am working and moving around, but at night when I am sleeping and especially in the morning it is the worst.  I also have tried several chiropractors, I do yoga and pilates.  Other than that extreme tightness, I am in really good health.  I am a mortgage broker and love my job.  I have a wonderful husband and 3 children, 25, 17 and 14.  Help!!!
One other thing, when I wake up in the morning or in the middle of the night, my jaw is all clenched and my tongue is stuck to the roof of my mouth.  Also, my arms and hands are all curled up tight.  I feel that if I can relax my hands and arms and my jaw, everything else might relax.  My stomach makes weird noises all the time because it is so tight also.

Thanks for your help!
Doris

Answer
Dear Doris,

It sounds like you are going through great pain.  I hope your conditions are better as I am responding to your concern.

Having the tightness, stiffness, pain, your age at 50 and past injuries, the most common cause of your ailments might be arthritis.  In Oriental medicine, there are various type of arthritis.  The descriptions that you provided indicate what we term "Wind Bi" or arthritis that is all over the body like the wind traveling everywhere.  X-rays of the joints may show sign of arthritis or more specifically, blood test.  The condition worsen in the morning and at night time is due to the inactivity of the joints and when exercise or activity is performed, the joints will slowly warm up with the reduction of stiffness and pain.  

Chiropractic can help manage the pain and stiffness and massage as well.  However, I would advice for you to try Acupuncture in addition to Chiropractic to manage your condition.  Acupuncture will address the issue of "wind" causing migratory pain in your body.  

To be definite with the proper method of treatment and diagnose, it is best to confirm with your practitioners who are able to perform examinations on you.  

I wish you a speedy recovery.