Sports acupuncture has been used worldwide, from treating injuries to helping athletes increase performance levels. Acupuncturists are commonly employed by significant sports teams all across the globe. Athletes are turning to acupuncture to help with pain and injury and to help improve performance and compete at optimal levels. So how does acupuncture help improve athletic performance?
- Relieves Stress & Anxiety
Anxiety and stress can hinder performance when athletes lose focus or control of their concerns about the game or race. Roaring crowds, dependent teammates, demanding coaches, and parents play into athletic anxiety and stress. As such, acupuncture is a great tool to help keep athletes grounded and focused and relieve stress and anxiety before a competition.
- Increases Blood Flow & Muscle Capacity
In a review of studies looking at the sports performance-enhancing effects of
acupuncture helped increase blood flow and increased intramuscular enzyme activity in athletes.
- Increases Awareness & Response Time
For athletes of all skill levels, being present and responsive to the sport at hand is essential to performing well—a quicker response time, better hand-eye coordination, or ability to read the playing field differentiates top athletes from the competition. Acupuncture is widely used to improve cognitive function.
- Improves Recovery Time
One thing that slows athletes from making peak performance or improving throughout the season is the length of recovery time from workouts or games. Delayed onset muscle soreness, a lowered immune system function due to heavy training, or over-training can quickly stop or at least slow down an athlete’s training schedule.
- Improves Endurance Capacity
Not all sports are quick sprints, and every sport, regardless of the length of play requires some degree of endurance. Acupuncture studies have shown functional improvements in the hemodynamics of endurance athletes – how well our body circulates blood and lowers heart rate. ability to do more.
Treating the athletes would support them from a whole-body health aspect using the methods of Traditional Chinese Medicine. This means not only helping with pain and recovery from injuries but also decreasing the impact of stress and their rigorous schedule, supporting healthy sleep, and supporting healing and overall health to enhance their performance.