Using Acupuncture For Athletic Recovery
If you’re an athlete, you know that recovery is a crucial component of your training that is necessary for you to perform your best on the field, court, or track. In a previous blog post, Eastern Medicine for Sports Performance, we covered how the health of your joints, bones, and muscles are directly related to the health and function of your liver, kidneys, and stomach, and how Eastern medicine can give you a competitive edge. In this blog post, we will be covering how you can optimize your recovery with acupuncture, and how it can impact your athleticism and skills. Keep reading to learn more!
Improving Sleep
Without proper sleep, you won’t have the energy to perform, and your muscles will never be able to recover. Acupuncture helps improve your sleep by regulating chemicals related to your stress levels and emotional well-being, cortisol and serotonin. These chemicals can interfere with the quality of your sleep, therefore acupuncture can be used to help you get a deeper night’s rest that will benefit your recovery and performance.
Managing Pain
An injury or soreness from a workout can prevent you from performing at your best. When it’s too painful to run your fastest, or jump your highest, you’re likely overdoing it with your strength and conditioning, or you aren’t recovering from your workouts. Acupuncture can be used to help you recover by signaling your body to release natural painkillers, and decrease swelling and inflammation at the site of pain. By improving your ability to manage pain and recover, you will be able to train harder during your workouts, and play your sport without being slowed down by stiffness or wincing in pain.
Reducing Anxiety and Stress
Athletes that are confident and level-headed make the right decisions on the field to make plays and lead teams. Similar to how acupuncture can be used to improve sleep by regulating cortisol and serotonin, by regulating these chemicals you can experience an overall sense of calmness and clarity. If you get a lot of pre-game, or even mid-game nerves, acupuncture can help you calm your mind, and focus on the task at hand.
Increasing Flexibility
A good workout typically comes with some level of stiffness the next day. Although training harder than your competition can give you a competitive edge, if your mobility is compromised enough to affect how accurately or fast you shoot and pass, your workouts are only hurting your ability as an athlete. Acupuncture can be used to maintain your mobility, and in some cases, it can even increase your comfortable range of motion. This is because acupuncture can be used to release knots in your muscles and reduce inflammation.
Being an athlete is no joke! As fun as sports are, at a high-level athletes are at risk of overtraining and under-recovering, and this can lead to injuries that can impact their ability to perform their best. If you want to reach your potential as an athlete, you need to utilize all of the tools necessary to get there, including acupuncture. Contact us today to book an appointment and learn more!
