Acupuncture for Sports Injuries >>

Pain-free activity ... what a fundamental joy. The feeling you get while moving without hindrance, without hesitation and at your potential cannot be understated.

The pain that started innocently has now taken a significant bite out of your enjoyment of your favorite activity or sport. Now you do it less often at a lower intensity, or not at all due to your concern of making your problem worse.

As a person more aware of your body, you have a better understanding of the relationships between your muscle groups. Consider for a minute whether a muscular problem in one part of your body may cause problems somewhere else in your body. For example, a tight muscle on one side of a joint can pull the socket slightly out of alignment and cause joint pain.

Acupuncture is often misunderstood because the five thousand year old eastern descriptions do not fit into a modern western understanding.

A modern understanding of acupuncture includes the importance of a properly functioning muscular system and the effects that mis-behaving muscle groups can have on seemingly unrelated pain or other health issues -- common treatable problems.

Traditional acupuncture involves inserting tiny, sterile needles into particular points and letting them sit for a period of time.

Triggerpoint acupuncture is different. (next column)

Trigger Point Acupuncture >>

Trigger point acupuncture is a more aggressive, direct manipulation of muscular tightness (knots) - known as trigger points. It seeks to generate repeated, involuntary twitching from the suspect muscle or muscle group and usually leads to an immediate reduction of the tightness as well as a reduction or elimination of the related problems.

Whether the trigger points are caused by new or old injuries, improper or overtraining, incorrect posture or body mechanics, or just life, trigger point acupuncture returns the natural balance to your muscles. It is one of the safest ways to address physical problems and usually involves only some short-term muscular soreness caused by the involuntary twitching. The soreness is similar to post workout soreness.

This drug-free process involves using knowledge of probable muscular causes of your problem and hands-on touch to locate the unnatural tightness. Next, the acupuncturist inserts an ultra-thin, single-use acupuncture needle into the suspect muscle and gently probes looking to produce localized involuntary twitching. This reaction has the effect of fatiguing the tight muscle and producing an immediate reduction or elimination of the tightness. See video.

The probability of success can usually be determined within 1 to 3 treatments.