Injury Rehabilitation With Acupuncture Enters The Mainstream

How did NFL Quarterback superstar Aaron Rodgers get back in the game after a recent calf injury? No, it wasn’t an expensive sports injury therapy that’s only available to superstar athletes. Rodgers turned to the centuries-old tradition of Ancient Chinese Medicine: acupuncture. Rodgers is part of a growing group of professional athletes who are discovering the benefits of acupuncture treatment for sports injury rehabilitation.

Acupuncture Helps Relieve Pain, Supports Faster Healing for Sports Injuries

You might be surprised by just how many professional athletes have integrated acupuncture into their injury recovery programs. From current and former NFL superstars like Michael Strahan, James Harrison, James Farrior and Marcus Stroud to NBA players like Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, Grant Hill, Shaquille O'Neal and Charles Barkley, acupuncture is widely used as part of the injury rehabilitation process.

If you have recently sustained a sports injury, acupuncture can help speed the recovery process and may even reduce or eliminate your need for surgery. Acupuncture is also beneficial for helping individuals heal after sports injury surgery because it can help reduce pain and inflammation.

From a traditional Chinese Medicine perspective, a sports injury is a form of trauma that disrupts the body’s energetic homeostasis, causing energy blockages that trigger pain and impede mobility. Traditionally, Chinese Medicine sees acupuncture as a way to remove these energetic blockages for natural pain relief and healing. From a Western medical perspective, the physiological impacts of an injury include swelling, pain and inflammation. Acupuncture stimulates the nervous system to minimize pain, reduce swelling and inflammation, and promote healing.

If you need surgery for your sports injury, acupuncture before and after surgery can also help support the healing process. Acupuncture may help with pre-operative anxiety and the reduction of nausea, vomiting, digestive dysfunction and inflammation associated with the surgical procedure. In general, most patients benefit from a series of acupuncture treatments over three to four weeks, although every patient is different.

Are you interested in integrating acupuncture into your post-injury recovery program? To learn more about the benefits of acupuncture, contact Vitality Health & Wellness today