Acupuncture for Sports and Other Injuries
Sports injuries (and other injuries like over-use injuries, repetitive strain injury and tendinitis) are really annoying because they stop you doing the sport or leisure activity you love, or they might interfere with work or study.
Common sports and over-use injuries include:
- Tennis elbow (often caused by something other than tennis!)
- Golfer’s elbow (often caused by something other than golf!)
- Knee ligament injuries
- Iliotibial tract (band) syndrome (runner’s knee)
- Shin splints
- Ankle sprains
- Achilles tendonitis, calf strain
- Hamstring strain, groin strain
- Frozen shoulder (often not related to sports or over-use, but it can respond very well to acupuncture), rotator cuff tear
Whether you have occasional niggles or acute, severe pain, you probably want to get to the bottom of what’s happening and find a long-lasting solution. This is where acupuncture comes in. Most of the injuries above respond well to Acupuncture. For recent injuries, we usually see a response in around 4 treatments, but longstanding injuries can take longer.
Treatments involve needles placed at specific acupuncture points in the region of the injury, as well as ones inserted at points further along the acupuncture meridian (one of a network of lines that circulate the energy or “Qi”). Other points are also used to promote healing. For these types of injury, moxibustion (a form of herbal heat treatment) is also very useful. Massage is also used when indicated.
Our Acupuncturists are a registered Acupuncturist with experience in treating a wide variety of sports injuries, including in elite athletes. Health-fund rebates are available for Acupuncture treatments.