Sports Acupuncture
What is sports acupuncture?
The intent of sports acupuncture is to combine and integrate the techniques of traditional Chinese medicine and sports medicine to create a comprehensive and focused treatment plan. This multifaceted approach works to maximize treatment provided to the athlete.
Dry needling, electroacupuncture (estim) and acupuncture are all effective ways to address musculoskeletal issues for athletes at all levels. These include post-injury and post-surgical recovery. Also, these services can reduce muscle recovery time during training.
It is only recently that the wisdom of acupuncture in relieving pain and accelerating the healing process has been combined with modern sports medicine, generating an effective and unique system for treating injuries and pain.
Sports acupuncture combines the best parts of traditional acupuncture, dry needling and electroacupuncture (estim) to provide the most effective and efficient care to the athlete.
Sports acupuncture can help with:
- Improved performance
- Recovery post workout/competition (muscle soreness)
- Sprains
- Strains
- Injuries and rehabilitation
- Repetitive motion injuries
- Muscle pain
- Blood circulation
- Repetitive motion injuries
- Joint pain
- Reduced inflammation
- Improved energy levels
- Better sleep
- Reduced performance stress or anxiety
- Tennis elbow
- Golfer's elbow
- Achilles tendinitis
- Hip impingement
- Shoulder impingement / rotator cuff strains and tears
- Iliotibial band syndrome
- Concussion
What To Expect During Sports Acupuncture Treatment
Plan to spend approximately 60 minutes at your first acupuncture appointment. At that visit, a sports acupuncturist will review your medical history and assess your injury by asking:
- What caused the injury?
- When and where does it hurt?
- What, if anything, makes it feel better?
- What makes it feel worse?
Next, the acupuncturist discusses your treatment options and begins therapy. Most patients describe little or no pain during treatment. That’s because acupuncture needles are very thin, measuring less than a millimeter.
After the initial one-hour visit, your acupuncturist will schedule 30- to 45-minute follow-up sessions. On average, patients with elbow injuries receive six treatments over three weeks. Your treatment plan may vary depending on the severity of your injury.