Acupuncture Provides Answers for Athletes in Preventing Injuries to Ankle Joints
In sports arenas and athletic workout rooms, injuries to the ankles occur with some frequency. Traditional treatment of the condition in Western medicine is totally symptom oriented after the fact of injury. Acupuncture and an Eastern medicine approach brings a new look to restoring healthy function to an injured ankle and also sheds major light on valuable measures to help prevent a sprain from occurring.
Acupuncture has a lot to say about why a lateral (towards the side of the body) ankle injury occurs and how it can be prevented. Of course, a contact sport athlete could take a dramatic blow to a joint area and receive acute damage from the external event. However, in the case of many strains and twists that athletes experience, a course of Acupuncture treatments could contribute to changing the internal origins of injuries making the ankle stronger and healthier and less susceptible to getting hurt.
According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) there are a number of preexisting factors that contribute to ankle sprains. These have to do with an inadequate flow of qi (also known as “chi,” the energy of life) to the area, reduced blood flow to the ankle, blood stagnation in the joint, the invasion of external pathogens and the susceptibility to environmental factors of dampness, cold and heat. Each of these can contribute to the development of a chronic problem in the area. This disrupts the circulation of qi and blood to the specific location and increases susceptibility to injury.
Acupuncture helps the recipient to counteract the accumulated events in life that reduce the follow of qi and blood flow to the ankle. Simply the acts of living, working and playing can have a negative effect on the body that needs to be corrected. For instance, long hours of standing can cause overstraining. A weakness may develop in the case of a prolonged illness or lack of proper nourishment to the area and can give rise to tendon and bone weakness. Additional factors which can affect the area, especially for athletes are the subjecting of the ankle to dampness, wind, heat and cold during competition.
Each of these accumulated conditions can be helped and rehabilitated with Acupuncture. Treatments with Acupuncture enrich the ankle area with a healthy flow of qi and blood supply. An athlete who takes these measures will have a much better chance of avoiding ankle injury. This will enhance enjoyment of the activity and also could prolong a person’s athletic career.