The weather is warming up, and we’re getting outside more to enjoy ourselves and start training. With the time of weekend warriors and marathon training arriving, injuries will also occur. Acupuncture therapies are a great way to reduce and prevent injuries and pain.
For years, we’ve seen stories about professional athletes using acupuncture, whether to recover faster between games or to treat a specific injury. NFL players, MLB pitchers, and Olympic swimmers have all talked publicly about relying on it as part of their training and recovery routine. But you don’t need to be a professional athlete to benefit. Acupuncture is used by everyone from elite competitors to weekend warriors, marathon runners, and anyone getting back into a regular workout routine. Whatever your activity level, acupuncture can help you train harder, recover faster, and stay injury free.
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Acupuncture and Cupping for Training
Acupuncture helps people train by reducing pain, increasing circulation (therefore healing), and decreasing inflammation (also important for healing). Electro-acupuncture has also been shown to stimulate healing in muscle rehabilitation. This is probably why many people with chronic injuries that flare up when you start training will see improvement, because acupuncture can stimulate the healing process.
Cupping is a wonderful tool for athletes and people who are getting back into shape. Cupping places a depressurized cup on a muscle, which draws up the skin underneath. You’ve probably seen cup marks before, made famous by Michael Phelps during the Olympics. I find acupuncture with cupping particularly helpful for people with neck and upper back pain as well as lower back pain that flares from training. Cupping is also very helpful for reducing soreness after a workout, and it’s a good stress reliever, something we can all use these days.
Shoulder and Rotator Cuff Injuries
Throwing athletes and anyone doing repetitive overhead movement, including pitchers, swimmers, and tennis players, are especially prone to shoulder pain and rotator cuff injuries from the repeated stress of the motion. Acupuncture is effective at treating rotator cuff issues, and I find addressing trigger points throughout the rotator cuff is extremely important to resolving them.
Beyond the shoulder itself, acupuncture treats the whole person. Athletic training and performance involve both mental and physical preparation, and allowing the mind to relax creates space to prepare for the next challenge or the next event.
Trigger points
Trigger points in muscles are another reason that chronic injuries will flare up when you start training again. Trigger points are areas in bundles of muscle and fascia that become tight and knotted up. This tension pulls on other areas of the muscle and surrounding tissue. Acupuncture can be used to break up the trigger point to relieve this pressure.
An Acupuncture Success Story
One of my marathon runners was having chronic pain in her left knee and calf. The pain was keeping her from training. The diagnosis was unclear. Soft tissue did not show major signs of problems, but still she could not run without pain.
I found she had significant trigger points in the muscles of the gastrocnemius. I releases the trigger point with needling and followed up with electroacupuncture on the area. I also followed the acupuncture with cupping.
After only one treatment, she was able to run a few miles again. Each week this improved. After only 4 visits she was able to return to her normal training schedule.
The key to the success was personalized and targeted treatment of the issue.
Read more about acupuncture for runners.
