Sports Acupuncture Scores Points

2014 June 30. | Szerző: shannon |

Acupuncture has caught the attention of many sportspersons, who have greatly benefitted from this therapy. Having practiced acupuncture for 32 years, I had the opportunity of treating some well-known sportsmen.

Indian cricketer Yuvraj Singh came to me in March 2013, with a history of migraine headaches, which he had since 2007. He used to take frequent medications for relief. The headaches were accompanied by blurring of vision and pain around his eye ball. His trigger would often be empty stomach, causing wind and then headaches. He has had problems of acidity, gas and wind since past four years. He also had a disturbed sleep pattern. He has had nasal allergies since a young age accompanied with urticaria. Another problem which had taken a toll on his career was his severe left-side neck stiffness with pain radiating from the neck to the left shoulder, upper arm, left upper back and left wrist. He also had recurrent episodes of low back pain radiating to his legs, causing him to miss matches.

All these problems were treated concurrently with acupuncture. I used a combination of body acupuncture and ear acupuncture points to great effect. Today, he has recovered and is fighting fit. To quote Yuvi, “The best part of this therapy is that it is safe, drugless without any side-effects and I have made a significant recovery. I feel the therapy should be made more popular so that more sportspersons can benefit from it.”

Another famous polo player Navin Khanna took acupuncture treatment for his recurrent tennis elbow and got fully cured.

According to Matt Callison, a faculty member at Pacific College of Oriental Medicine and licenced acupuncturist in San Diego, California, traditional Chinese medicine has been extremely helpful and a growing trend in athletics. Amercian football team San Francisco 49ers’ players Steve Young and Jerry Rice have been treated with sports acupuncture. Canadian speed skater Kevin Overland received sports acupuncture to help him earn a bronze medal in the 1998 Olympics. As a sports acupuncturist, Callison has been treating athletes for 11 years.

Pacific College uses acupuncture to help rehabilitate post-operative injuries, sports injuries and athletic performance by increasing range of motion, muscle strength and tissue healing potential. Callison reported that the most common injuries he treats athletes for are muscle contusions and tendinitis. These injuries typically require two sports acupuncture treatments a week, with a varied recovery time depending on the injury.

Oriental medicine and sports medicine techniques focus on proprioception—muscles’ awareness communicating to the central nervous system. Injury can disrupt this communication, thus hindering balance. Acupuncture is one of the quickest ways to restore muscle balance. Acupuncture is used at specific sites, the muscle spindles are reset, and then that balance is reawakened.

Sports acupuncture consists of the gentle insertion and stimulation of thin, disposable sterile needles at strategic points near the surface of the body. When you insert a sports acupuncture needle to a motor point region, it changes the awareness that the muscle reports to the central nervous system. Over 2,000 sports acupuncture points on the human body connect with 14 major pathways, called meridians. Chinese medicine practitioners believe that these meridians conduct qi, or energy, between the surface of the body and internal organs. It is qi that regulates spiritual, emotional, mental and physical balance. When the flow of qi is disrupted through poor health habits or other circumstances, pain and/or disease can result. Sports acupuncture helps to keep the normal flow of this energy unblocked and “fine-tune the bio-electric system”.

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