A very common condition we see in our acupuncture clinic is knee pain. Whether you are an athlete, someone who exercises intensely, or someone who spends most of their day sitting, musculoskeletal pain is likely to affect you in some way.
A Case Study of Sports Medicine Acupuncture for Knee Pain
A 69-year-old male patient who has been athletically active his whole life complained of left medial knee pain. He had MRI that showed a tiny tear at the medial meniscus.
In the past, he had been given cortisone shots when the pain came, but this time the shots did not relieve him. Upon assessing his posture, movement, and muscular strength, I noted that his left foot over pronated, contributing to knee rotation. In his manual muscle strength tests, he had weak left Gluteus Maximus, Medius, and Minimus muscles.
❤️ An imbalanced back and hip muscle as well as over-pronation of the foot can lead to pelvic misalignment. This misalignment can contribute to recurring lumbar, hip, and knee pain. In this case, the compensation pattern aggravated the joints and ligaments on the medial side of the knee.
⚡️ I treated the gluteal muscles by using motor points to strengthen them. Moreover, I added additional points to strengthen the thigh, leg, and foot muscles that were inhibited. While this patient’s primary complaint was knee pain, his treatment, in this case, didn’t involve the treatment of her knee directly, but rather correcting the pelvis misalignment that caused his knee pain.
Long-term patients need to know how to strengthen the weak muscles (now able to contract properly due to acupuncture), and how to stretch the tight muscles appropriately.
❤️ My approach to treating athletes is to combine traditional Chinese medicine with Western sports medicine to identify and treat structural and postural problems. This can reduce pain, heal injuries, and prevent future injuries. As a result, your body moves in the ‘correct’ way, reducing joint wear, muscle strain, and pain.
