Whether a weekend warrior, a seasoned semi-professional, or professional competitor, athletes are always looking for that competitive edge — the thing that can keep them healthy and give them a bit more in the tank to defeat the competition. 

Sports acupuncture is a great tool athletes can use as part of their overall health care strategy. Sports acupuncture is a hybrid form of acupuncture and sports medicine that is specifically used to support sports-related activity. Athletes and runners especially can use sports medicine acupuncture to relieve pain, accelerate the healing of sports related injuries, improve performance, and increase muscle flexibility. Let’s unpack each of these benefits and see just how sports acupuncture can be used to treat athletes.

Pain Management

Acupuncture is often used to alleviate the pain associated with sports injuries, overuse, or even chronic conditions developed from years of intense competition. Needles are inserted into specific points to help release endorphins, the body’s natural painkillers, and reduce inflammation. It’s all about restoring the balance of energy to the body to achieve ultimate wellness. 

Muscle Relaxation

Athletes can use acupuncture to address muscle tightness and spasm as well. Needles are strategically placed at various acupuncture points along the body to stimulate relaxation and reduce muscle tension. 

Injury Rehabilitation

Acupuncture can be an effective tool in an athlete’s rehabilitation plan post-injury. It can help to accelerate the healing process by improving blood circulation, reducing swelling, and promoting tissue repair. 

Stress Reduction

Athletes, especially those who compete at a very elite level, can experience extremely high levels of stress due to the intense training or simply the competitions themselves. Acupuncture can help to manage stress and anxiety by promoting relaxation and balancing the body’s energy.

Enhanced Recovery

Acupuncture can contribute to faster recovery between training sessions and competitions. It improves blood circulation and reduces muscle soreness, so athletes are often able to resume their training more quickly by incorporating regular acupuncture into their training routine. 

Immune System Support

When athletes endure intense training, it can sometimes suppress the immune system, making them more susceptible to illness. Acupuncture is believed to support the immune system by addressing the balance of energy in the body through specific meridians, thus helping athletes to stay healthy. 

Mind/Body Connection

One of the most effective things acupuncture accomplishes is the improvement of the mind/body connection. This can be an incredibly valuable tool for supporting athletic performance. Acupuncture is known to stimulate a parasympathetic nervous system response, sometimes called a state of “rest and digest.”

Regular acupuncture sessions can improve an athlete’s natural ability to tune into this mental state in times of stress or anxiety, such as right before a big race or competition. Acupuncture has been shown to support cognitive function and reduce performance anxiety.

Whether you are thinking about incorporating acupuncture into your regular wellness routine or using it as a companion to other medical treatments, talk to me today. I will take a full health history and discuss your training regimen and fitness goals. We will then work together to develop a plan specific to your needs.

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It has been shown that acupuncture can help the body in many ways. From repairing the digestive system to boosting Qi, enhancing athletic performance to mending strains and sprains, acupuncture has many uses and most of these uses are beneficial for professional athletes.

As the Olympics in Rio get closer and closer with each passing day, athletes are beginning to fine tune their bodies for the upcoming events. Every athlete wants to be at their top performance level as they put everything on the line for their country. Acupuncture is one key some Olympians use to achieve that extra competitive edge and get their physical and mental aspects ready for the games. Some of the biggest names on the Olympic stage are making acupuncture part of their health regimen.

In 2012, during the London Olympics, acupuncture was widely acknowledged in the Olympic community as an extremely beneficial solution to guaranteeing a higher level of athletic performance. Since London, more and more Olympic athletes have been ‘turning to the needle’ and have been experiencing excellent results.

Wang Qun, an Olympic swimmer for the Chinese team has been known to perform in events with cupping marks still present on her skin. Cupping is a therapy of traditional Chinese medicine, which involves applying heated glass cups to the skin to encourage smooth energy flow; it stimulates your Qi as the cups are placed along the meridian lines of your body. In addition to Qun, other members of the Chinese Olympic Team use acupuncture, most notably windsurfer Yin Jian, a gold medalist in the 2008 Olympics. Jian attributed nightly acupuncture with helping her achieve success and curing the muscle strains she experienced on a daily basis.

Acupuncture isn’t solely practiced by the Chinese Olympic Team. This form of traditional Chinese medicine has made its way to Olympians from the U.S. and Canada as well. Bronze medalist and track-athlete Dee Dee Trotter used daily visits from her local acupuncturist to help her unlock the potential needed to win third place in the 400-meter run at the London Olympic Games.

Mark McMorris, a Canadian snowboarder, upped his game with acupuncture before his bronze-medal finish at the Sochi Olympics. After injuring his body during the X games weeks prior to the Olympics, McMorris began to attend acupuncture sessions to recalibrate his body, and by the results shown, we know it worked; McMorris went on to perform outstandingly in the Slopestyle event and brought back the bronze medal for the Canadian Olympic Team.

One in every 10 U.S. adults have tried acupuncture, and as you can see, even the pros are doing it to recover, enhance and better their body overall.

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