What You Need To Know
Sports Medicine Acupuncture ® integrates techniques from Western Sports Medicine and orthopedic acupuncture, with the use of muscle motor points, dry needling techniques, neurofunctional acupuncture as well as traditional acupuncture principles from Traditional Chinese Medicine to assess and treat injuries, and eliminate pain and movement dysfunction.
In addition to determining meridian and musculo-tendonal pathway pathologies, your assessment may include functional anatomy, manual muscle testing, myofascial length testing, orthopedic examinations, and palpation to correctly identify the root cause of the pain, dysfunction and postural imbalances.
Unique to Sports Medicine Acupuncture ® over traditional acupuncture is the use of muscle motor points.
A motor point is the most electrically excitable area of the muscle where the nerve innervates.
Stimulation of that motor point with an acupuncture needle and/or mild electrical stimulation can influence nerves and neuromodulate the surrounding area thereby helping to reset the dysfunctional muscle that is causing problems. It is like hitting a reset button on the muscle or similar to rebooting your computer.
These motor points are different than trigger points which are painful tight bands of tissue that are often addressed through a style of acupuncture typically referred to as dry needling.
Manual muscle testing is used to identify overactive and underactive muscle groups to determine the appropriate corrective treatment and identify any offending muscle group causing grief in a distant location. Yes, everything is connected! This can result in immediate pain relief and improved muscle strength.
The treatment may also consist of neurofunctional acupuncture or electrostimulation of the affected segments of the spine and myotomes. Neurofunctional acupuncture facilitates modulation of neurological activity at every level identified as being disturbed such as autonomic sympathetic and parasympathetic, motor and sensory systems.
Injury Prevention
Sports Medicine Acupuncture® can also play a role in the prevention of injuries by increasing mobility and flexibility, correcting muscle imbalance and improving contractile muscle strength and functional movement. This can lead to increased sports performance for both amateur and professional athletes and weekend warriors.
Start Your Journey To Recovery Today
With the right acupuncture care, you can get back to what you love doing without the pain.
Book an appointment to take the first step.
