Sports Injury Specialist
A mechanical stretch on the muscle-tendon unit could damage the muscle itself, thereby reducing contractile force capacity. Stretching muscles can also reduce blood flow and oxygen availability, resulting in metabolic end-products and/or reactive oxygen and nitrogen species. Stretching is often considered an effective method for increasing joint range of motion, improving performance, and reducing the incidence of activity-related injuries. A recent study, however, suggests that sustained static stretching could compromise performance in the future. A recent trend has been to emphasize dynamic stretching within a warm-up rather than static stretching.
Activities that place a great deal of repetitive stress on their dominant upper extremity are prone to upper extremity injuries. A repetitive overhead motion has long been implicated in the pathology of the upper extremity in overhead athletes. Based on research across the world and 15 years of clinical experience from our office, acupuncture management has a direct effect on healing damaged muscle, tendon, ligament, and bone tissue. Treatment with acupuncture improves nerve and endocrine control, reduces pain, decreases inflammation, reduces scar tissue, decreases swelling, improves sleep, and enhances mental tolerance to anxiety and depression. In comparison to diuretics and anti-inflammatory drugs, acupuncture reduces swelling and inflammation far more effectively and quickly. As a result of reducing the swelling and inflammation, the capillaries and small veins are relieved of compression, and the circulation to the injured area is improved while oxygen, nutrition, and toxic wastes are reduced.
Acupuncture has become a valuable asset for sports injury management to treat conditions such as joint pain, tendinitis, neuropathy and muscle strain. Acupuncture has been used successfully by acupuncture sports injury specialists as an effective way to reduce inflammation and swelling while assisting in pain reduction. This type of acupuncture management is often used to treat athletes both after the initial trauma stage of a sports injury and throughout the recuperation period. acupuncture has been shown to provide sustained pain relief over time, allowing athletes to return to their chosen activity much earlier than if traditional medical techniques had been used alone. An acupuncture sports injury can be very beneficial in aiding an athlete’s physical rehabilitation following an injury enabling quicker recovery within a shorter time frame with less risk of long-term effects or scarring. Sports medics are recognizing acupuncture sports as an important part of their treatment plans for healing sport injuries and rehabilitating injured athletes back into active lifestyle pursuits.
Our recommendation is to begin acupuncture treatment as early as possible since it has additional benefits such as reducing pain, relieving anxiety and stress, and improving blood circulation by optimizing lung and heart function. It is important to note that acupuncture can reduce infection risk, if the injury is a skin break, by enhancing immunity.
