What Sports Injuries Can Be Treated with Acupuncture?
Sports injuries may be common, but that doesn’t make them any less of an annoyance. Their impacts on fitness and quality of life lead an increasing number of people to seek out acupuncture for sports injuries in Chicago, including at Life Balance Clinic in Glenview.
What Injuries Can Acupuncture Help With?
Acupuncture may help to speed up healing of muscle and tendon injuries.
For example, one study on Achilles tendinopathy found that acupuncture led to an improvement in Achilles tendon health scores to 67.1 after eight weeks, compared to 48.5 points in the control group. Patients who received acupuncture also had less pain.
Chinese medicine may also work for tennis elbow, another common sports injury. Both manual and electroacupuncture can significantly relieve pain and improve grip strength in as little as two weeks. Reduced pain with movement not only shows symptomatic relief, but is an indicator of tissue healing, too.
Acupuncture has also shown promise in aiding the recovery of knee injuries, a common type of sports injury. Studies have suggested that acupuncture can contribute to the acceleration of healing in cases of knee ligament or meniscus injuries. For instance, research has demonstrated improvements in knee health scores among patients receiving acupuncture, indicating enhanced healing compared to control groups. Additionally, individuals who undergo acupuncture treatment for knee injuries often experience a reduction in pain levels, which is indicative of both symptomatic relief and underlying tissue repair. This suggests that acupuncture may be a valuable adjunctive therapy for individuals recovering from various types of knee injuries sustained during sports activities.
How Does Acupuncture Help with Sports Injuries?
According to Chinese medicine, acupuncture works by increasing the flow of blood and qi (life force energy) to the body’s tissues and improving its balance. Depending on your unique situation, we may also focus on unblocking stagnant energy, raising or lowering the activity of organ channels that affect the injured area, and dispelling excessive types of energy.
Published evidence using Western measurements shows that acupuncture can increase blood and oxygen flow to the tendons during treatment. This is sustained for at least 30 minutes afterwards, giving the cells the resources, they need to repair the area.
How Many Acupuncture Sessions Are Needed for Treatment?
Acupuncture for athletics-related injury often requires treatment courses of eight, 12, or even more sessions. How many treatments you need depends on the severity of your injury and the expected healing time with rest only.
Effectiveness of Acupuncture for Sports Injuries
A shorter healing time from using acupuncture for sports injury has a number of additional benefits:
- Reduced acute pain and a lower risk of your brain “learning” to convert it to chronic pain
- Less muscle loss as you can return to normal activities and sports faster
- Stronger muscle and connective tissue
- Less stress as you don’t have to miss out on the sports you love for as long
Dr. Vadim Dekhtyar, DACM welcomes all patients in Glenview, IL, and surrounding Chicago suburbs who want to heal faster than rest and eventual physical therapy alone can allow. To book an appointment or ask further questions, click here or call us at 847-724-1777.