Acupuncture for Sports Medicine & Sports Injuries
Whether you are a casual sports player, a weekend warrior or someone who trains hard everyday, acupuncture can be extremely valuable for you: it assists both acute and cumulative injury recovery, helps prevent future injuries and enhances athletic performance and endurance.
Many acupuncture techniques were born from the needs of the martial arts traditions in China. Acupuncture played an important role in keeping ancient fighters in peak condition and it continues to keep modern athletes healthy and active. Popular sports players who use acupuncture regularly are Maria Sharapova, Martina Hingis, Carl Lewis, Charles Barkley and Jim McMahon and many others. Also, many professional sports teams employ acupuncturists to treat injuries and keep players in top condition.
Acupuncture at the 2008 Beijing Olympics
Acupuncture received great media attention in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Many athletes were using acupuncture to enhance their performance and recovery for that competitive edge in the games. Acupuncture has benefits such as reducing pain and inflammation, speeding up recovery time, improving mental focus and rebalancing body energy. Yao Ming was reported to be using acupuncture to recover faster from foot surgery to be able to play in Beijing. Yao Ming used acupuncture and Oriental medicine to recover faster after undergoing surgery on his ankle in April, 2007 to be able to play in Beijing. The Olympic Village provided acupuncture to any athlete in the games for the first time in history.
Studies on Acupuncture to Enhance Athletic Performance
Studies have shown that acupuncture has measurable effects on the flow of blood to certain areas of the body, which could in turn boost athletic performance. One such study conducted at the Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine involved athletes running 5,000 meters, and then sitting for acupuncture treatments before they had a chance to catch their breath. The heart rates of the athletes who received the treatments recovered more quickly than those in the control group.
Another study published in the American Journal of Acupuncture measured the effects of acupuncture on anaerobic threshold and work capacity during exercise in healthy young males. Researchers found that individuals in the acupuncture treatment group had higher maximal exercise capacity and were able to perform higher workloads at the onset of blood lactate accumulation (OBLA) than individuals in the placebo group. The individuals that received acupuncture also had lower heart rates.
A recent study published in the January, 2008 issue of the Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine examined the effects of acupuncture on cyclists. Twenty young (between 18 and 30 years of age) male cyclists underwent three tests per week, riding a stationary bike for 20 kilometers as fast as possible. The volunteers were divided into three groups that either received acupuncture, sham acupuncture or no acupuncture. Acupuncture points were chosen on the basis of Traditional Chinese Medicine and administered immediately before cycling. Sham acupuncture was shallow needling of known acupoints. Not only did the study show that the group that received acupuncture had a higher RPE scores compared to the other tests. The men receiving the real acupuncture treatments completed their cycling tests at a higher acceleration than the others.
Acute Sports Injuries
Sports are competitive in nature. When we are competing, we push ourselves beyond our normal limitations, which can result in traumatic injury. No doubt, when this happens, you will want to get back out on the court, field, rink, course or trail as soon as possible and acupuncture can help.
When traumatic injury occurs, acupuncture is the perfect therapy to augment your recovery, reduce your pain and speed healing time.
Common traumatic injuries that acupuncture can treat are:
- shoulder rotator cuff tears and strains
- wrist sprains and strains
- ankle sprains and strains
- knee ligament and meniscus injuries (these are especially common in sports that require a lot of sudden starting, stopping and direction changing)
- vertebral disc inflammation in the neck or back
- strains (pulls) and tears of any muscle or tendon (i.e. hamstring, groin, Achilles tendon)
Chronic Over-Use Injuries
Some sports injuries are not sudden, but slowly build-up over time due to repeated over-use of a particular joint or muscle. Usually, these types of injuries start out as a nagging dull ache. This is the best time to start getting treatment for these injuries. If you ignore them, they will build-up to become chronic and debilitating problems. Once advanced, these injuries often require more recovery time than acute, traumatic ones.
How do you distinguish between the nagging ache of a cumulative over-use injury and the typical soreness that accompanies working out? Here are 3 general guidelines to help you determine what your ache may be telling you:
- Cumulative injuries are often felt more in joints: shoulders, knees, elbows, wrists, hip joints. Conversely, typical “working-out” soreness is felt more in the muscles.
- With a cumulative injury, the nagging soreness occurs during or very shortly after playing your sport, whereas, typical muscle soreness from training doesn’t begin until 24 to 48 hours later.
- Cumulative injuries will repeatedly occur in the same area week after week, but soreness from working out usually will not.
Common cumulative, over-use injuries that acupuncture can treat are:
- tennis elbow, golfer’s elbow and elbow bursitis
- shoulder tendinitis, bursitis, arthritis and impingement syndrome
- wrist tendinitis
- Achilles tendinitis
- hip bursitis
- illiotibial band syndrome
- knee arthritis
How Acupuncture Helps
From the Chinese medical point of view, the body is an energetic collection of functions, not just a mechanical collection of parts. That is to say, we contain Life Energy, also known as Qi (“chee”). One is said to be in perfect health when this energy is flowing unimpeded, and in an adequate amount throughout the entire body. Qi is the basis for the proper functioning of all body processes: it provides structural integrity and stability, physiological efficiency and the potential for healing.
When you sustain an injury, the flow of energy in and around the area becomes disrupted, causing stagnation and pain. This energy stagnation also inhibits the proper circulation of blood and lymph to the area, extending healing times, prolonging swelling and bruising and increasing the need for pain medications.
Acupuncture works directly to free the flow of Qi through these areas of stagnation. This serves 3 main functions to assist healing and speed recovery:
Increased circulation of Qi decreases pain, inflammation and swelling (all of which are signs of stagnation).
- Enhanced circulation of energy also brings increased circulation of blood and lymph. This means that fresh vital nutrients are more readily available to tissues that need them in order to mend.
- Enhanced circulation also carries dead cells and cellular waste products away from the injured site.
When Chinese herbal medicine is added to the acupuncture treatments, the healing and pain relieving effects are even greater. Herbs for injuries may be applied topically and/or taken internally, depending on the nature of the injury. Massage techniques may also be incorporated after the initial stages of recovery.