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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Is flouride good for your teeth?

2013 November 11. | Szerző: shannon

Frederick McKay, a young dentist, noted that those who lived there had very low rates of tooth decay, although they did have higher rates of a condition called fluorosis, characterised by a brown staining of their teeth.

Analysis of the local water supply showed that fluoride levels there exceeded 2mg per litre, a relatively high concentration compared to other areas. However, the observed resistance to tooth decay got dentists wondering whether it would be possible to harness the positive effects of fluoride (reduced decay) without incurring the brown discolouration effect, by simply adding fluoride to the water supply in concentrations less than 2mg/l.

Subsequent analyses clearly showed that addition of fluoride to drinking water at 1 mg/l achieved just that, and, based on this evidence, several countries including Ireland moved to fluoridate water on a statutory basis.

Fluoridation was not initially welcomed in Ireland. One woman, Gladys Ryan, took her case to the High Court and then to the Supreme Court. In a lengthy case, the legislation for fluoridation which had originally been signed into law in Dec 1960 finally came into effect on Jul 15, 1964 when the case was dismissed.

The nationwide implementation of fluoridation in the years that followed heralded a dramatic improvement in the dental health of the population, a benefit which persists today. Studies showed reduced rates of tooth decay among people in the Republic of Ireland compared to those in the North where fluoridation was not introduced. However, despite clear evidence of its benefits, controversy continues.

It has been claimed that people exposed to fluoride in their drinking water are at greater risk of osteoporosis and cancer. Neither of these claims stand up to scrutiny. In fact, the literature shows that there’s absolutely no increased risk of either osteoporotic bone change or cancer at water fluoridation levels less than 2 mg/l.

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To put this in context, Ireland fluoridates its water at a level of 0.7mg/l. The only adverse effect of fluoridation at this level is mild dental fluorosis, which occurs with greater frequency in children living in fluoridated water areas, including Ireland. While this may be a cosmetic concern, most research shows that it is not “aesthetically objectionable” and is harmless to the structural integrity of the teeth.

The most recent controversy concerned a suggested increased risk of fluorosis among infants fed formula — milk made with fluoridated tap water. Again, even if this did occur, there is no robust evidence that it would have any long-term adverse effect on the child’s dental or general health.

It’s important that these unsubstantiated adverse effects are discussed in the correct context. While most of us think about dental health as a purely aesthetic issue, this is far from the truth.

Dental decay and tooth loss are associated with significantly increased risk of death after surgery, as the exposed gums create a potential entry route for serious infection. I, like many clinicians, am in the unfortunate position of experiencing this first hand, having had post-surgical patients in my care die of such infections.

While those who assert the supposed “hazards” of water fluoridation are entitled to their opinion, the facts speak for themselves. The data shows us that water fluoridation has yielded considerable public health benefits, and that it does not present any danger to human health.