September Acupuncture Research Update
Acupuncture Can Help Athletes Recover Faster
Injury is the most dreaded possibility for athletes, amateur or professional. The down time waiting for the wounds to heal can be mind-numbing and infuriating. And when you finally think that you’re ready to get back in the ring, you’re back in top health, your injury may flare up again keeping you from performing your best. This has caused athletes and athletic doctors and physical therapists to search for better ways to treat injuries incurred during the sport and faster ways to heal. Recent studies have lent credence to the belief among athletes that acupuncture can help you recover faster from athletic injury. Research included a test with three groups: a control group which received acupuncture, another group which received sham acupuncture and a third which received neither. The study tested the subject’s heart rate, oxygen consumption and blood lactic acid as signifiers of the health of the athlete’s performance. The acupuncture group tested better in all three categories. Further tests are in the works to truly pin point the efficacy of acupuncture on athletic injury but preliminary results are promising as they substantiate a previously, widely-held belief of many athletes.
Links to the Articles:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19606508
Acupuncture to Fight the Stress that’s Killing Us
A new study has found that modern human’s stress reactions are doing us more harm than good. In the early days of human evolution human’s needed stress indicators to release certain chemicals in our bodies so we could hunt better or escape predators. Today, however, that stress compounds as it doesn’t find the same kind of outlet and this build up stress can lead to physical problems. Over active stress can lead to heart attack and can weaken the immune system. Acupuncture has been long been thought of as a powerful way to fight stress and modern medicine is finally starting to provide the necessary evidence to prove this. It’s difficult to process the idea that stress may be causing our physical issues as this thought can lead to more stress but consider acupuncture as a safe and natural way to treat stress without letting it get out of control.
Links to the Articles:http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/199601/stress-its-worse-you-think
http://www.webmd.com/anxiety-panic/news/20031015/acupuncture-calms-moms-stress-anxiety
http://www.webmd.com/anxiety-panic/news/20031015/acupuncture-calms-moms-stress-anxiety