Sunday 22 May 2016

The Christchurch Marathon, Running and Sports Injuries: Acupuncture and Osteopathy (not just physiotherapy)

Those of us in Christchurch will be aware that this Queen's Birthday weekend, areas of the central city will be closed to traffic due to the Christchurch Airport Marathon.

If you are an athlete, or training in any competitive sport, then if you are unfortunate enough to 
suffer and injury  (or have an earlier injury that is not completely resolved)  you will want the best possible recovery period, and so may seek the help of a health  professional  (physiotherapist, massage therapist, osteopath, chiropractor, or acupuncturist).


Recently I came across this article about treating running injuries with Acupuncture:

'' . . .  for consumers who understand that not all illnesses, diseases and ailments require western medicine to cure and heal.''
For the full article, please see:
https://www.runsociety.com/opinions/how-to-treat-your-running-injury-traditional-chinese-or-western-medicine/


It discusses the conventional Western Medical pharmaceutical approach of prescribing 'muscle relaxants', and 
then goes on to outline a Traditional Chinese Medical (TCM, i.e. Acupuncture and Herbs) approach.


For example the standard First Aid protocol is rest, ice, compression, elevation. We all remember this, don't we?


OK, good for the Sports field, and the very immediate aftermath of an injury (up to the initial few hours) and 
perhaps helpful if there is lingering swelling.


But in TCM compression is though to only exacerbate what they term 'blood stagnation' and this would tend to 
retard tissue healing.


Anyway,  if you are presently training (or are keen to return to training), then all of this might
interest  you.

Good treatment  (alignment and muscle balance, with osteopathic adjustment) and local tissue repair 
(and acupuncture can be excellent for this).

Please see:


http://www.christchurch-osteopathy-acupuncture.co.nz/osteopathy/firstVisit.html



http://www.christchurch-osteopathy-acupuncture.co.nz/acupuncture/firstVisit.html