Treatments for Sports Injuries
Posted by Christina Pistotnik
It’s that time of year when more and more outdoor activities are taking place and if you or your spouse is anything like me you want to spend as much free time participating in these. Tennis and golf are both great outdoor activities and I know from personal experience the heartbreak of your game being hindered due to debilitating pain. Fortunately, there is a solution with the use of acupuncture to help decrease pain and heal the injury.
Depending on which sport you are playing the location of pain is different. Tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis) is inflammation and pain of the lateral elbow.
Golfer’s elbow (medial epicondylitis) is inflammation and pain of the medial elbow. Both are due to micro tears of the tendons that attach to the specific area of the elbow caused by shock and impact from repetitive motion of the elbow’s tendons.
Tennis elbow is five times more likely to occur compared to golfer’s elbow because the motions of the wrist are more likely used in everyday activities not just when playing racket sports.
There are many treatment options out there ranging from medications to elbow bands/braces and in severe cases health care professionals may even suggest surgery. Unfortunately, medications and bands do nothing to actually heal the injury they just prevent pain for short periods of time.
Surgery may fix the problem but it is very invasive and costly due to that fact that time from work has to be missed in order to have and heal from the surgery. Acupuncture is a great alternative to these methods because of the fact that it heals the problem from within without being overly invasive.
Acupuncture has the ability to loosen tight muscles around the area, decrease inflammation, and stop pain all at the same time. Seems too good to be true doesn’t it? Well it all boils down to mechanics; time and time again acupuncture has been scientifically proven to release pain-killing hormones from the central nervous system, which in turn decreases inflammation. Once inflammation is decreased around joints (i.e. the elbow) the body can heal more effectively and move freely once again.
Another benefit to receiving acupuncture for tennis or golfer’s elbow is that it is mildly invasive therefore there is no missed time from work. However, I would suggest taking it easy on the court and/or golf course because injuries need rest in order to heal. I know this might be asking a lot, but what is one or two weeks of missed game time compared to playing at your best without any pain?
The long-term benefits from receiving acupuncture will not only help to heal your elbow but will also improve your game, and we all know the great feeling of satisfaction when we win the game.
