ACUPUNCTURE AND MASSAGE CONTINUE TO PROVE ITSELF IN BEING A SUCCESSFUL TREATMENT OPTION FOR SPORTS INJURIES. Its ability to reduce pain, increase range of motion, reduce recovery times, and strengthen weakened parts of the body, make it a highly effective tool for any individual at any fitness level.
STUDIES HAVE SHOWN THAT ACUPUNCTURE INCREASES BLOOD CIRCULATION to specific areas of the body, which not only promotes healing of sports injuries but also boosts athletic performance. Acupuncture can be employed at any stage of an injury to treat acute pain, swelling and spasms. It is also preventative in nature by addressing conditions that make athletes vulnerable to re-injury.
A WELL DIRECTED TREATMENT PLAN THAT INCLUDES ACUPUNCTURE AND MASSAGE CAN HELP WITH ANY OF THE FOLLOWING:
- Decrease inflammation
- Stop and help prevent chronic inflammation
- Reduce swelling
- Relax muscles and relieve spasms
- Decrease bruising
- Balance the body’s pain response
- Improve local blood circulation to increase delivery of nutrients and removal of lactic acid
- Balance the body
- Increase energy levels
- Enhance athletic performance
- Increase joint mobility
PHYSICAL WELL-BEING SETS THE TONE FOR A HEALTHIER MIND-SET, which leads to better performance. Most of us have areas of our body that we feel limit us, whether it’s due to physical trauma such as accidents, sports injuries or degenerative diseases. Some of the common physically and mentally self-abasing thoughts are: "Oh, its in my genetics, I just have to live with it." or "It's just an old high-school injury that pops its head up every once in a while - I'll deal with it."
TOO OFTEN WE SUBSCRIBE TO THE BELIEF THAT WE NEED TO, "JUST DEAL WITH" OUR PHYSICAL LIMITATIONS and that there isn’t anything else that can be done to undo them. This limiting belief system not only hinders any physical healing, but confines our mental outlook as well in all areas of our lives. These physical limitations might be feel like:
- Knots in the organs and tissue
- Tension and tightness
- Chronic inflammation
- Limited range of motion
- Pain and discomfort
- Low physical energy
- That "old injury" that just won't go away...
WHEN LEFT UNTREATED THESE PHYSICALLY SYMPTOMATIC RESPONSES TO INSTABILITY BECOME CHRONIC PROBLEMS which lead, not only to limited athletic performance but impact our overall quality of life and mental well-being. Furthermore, psychological responses to untreated physical imbalances can be expressed as:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Lack of confidence and low self-esteem
- Feeling unrooted and imbalanced
- Resistance to healthy commitments
- Increase compulsion to engage in unhealthy and habitual activities
- Decreased environmental awareness
- Lack of compassion for ourselves and others
- Suicidal tendencies
ACUPUNCTURE CAN HELP BY UNBLOCKING THESE AREAS. By manipulating the subtle energies of the body, acupuncture and massage can reinstate proper energetic flow on multiple dimensions and levels. This healing process expands our capabilities so that a truly balanced state is achieved where optimal mental health and physical performance are one.
IT IS NOW COMMONLY UNDERSTOOD AND HIGHLY APPRECIATED within the medical and sports medicine communities that the body has a complex and well designed web of subtle energies that circulate through the body. These subtle energies correlate directly and indirectly with all the organs and tissue in the body. The web can be accessed through certain points along meridians and lines that have been mapped out on the body's surface.
THE PRECISE NATURE OF THESE SUBTLE ENERGIES that radiate through our bodies is not yet fully understood. As we become more aware of ourselves and the role that we play in the human experience and universal consciousness, it is without doubt that there is no denying the profound effect that subtle energy has on all aspects of our being. It is a common thread that ties us all together and our inability to regulate and/or balance the energies around and within us can and will have detrimental effects on our ability to positively and successfully interact with the environment as a whole.
ACUPUNCTURE CAN NOT ONLY HELP TO INCREASE PERSONAL AWARENESS of your own body, but it will also create an awareness of your 'self' outside of your conventional theatre of thought. It will bring you inline with a more advanced social awareness and calm your mind and body at levels that can only be described as spiritual.
Read the following STUDIES for more details on acupuncture in regards to sports medicine:
REFERENCES
| 1. | |
| 2. | CLINICAL JOURNAL OF SPORTS MEDICINE, http://journals.lww.com/cjsportsmed/pages/default.aspx |
| 2. | OXFORD JOURNALS, http://ecam.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/nep210 |