Last week, we talked how important movement is to fostering a healthy relationship with your body. This week, it’s all about specific, repeated, skilled, competitive movement—also known as sports.
Anyone who’s competed in a sport knows that it requires both mental and physical grit. In the top US sports, professional athletes only play for about 5 years before retiring!
Even if you don’t suffer a severe injury from sports, there are many healthcare professionals that can help you perform at your peak—from sports psychologists, to physical therapists, to (yes!) even acupuncturists.
For those unfamiliar, there are many things that holistic medicine can offer to help you get from “out of the race” to “first place”. Yet, for some who are not quite as competitive, they are exceedingly grateful with simply finishing the race without injury. Below are some ideas for starters.
When athletes are prescribed rest for an injury, many use sports or orthopedic acupuncture to help speed up the healing process and reduce pain. The benefit of acupuncture is that it works without side effects, unlike pharmaceuticals.
Consistent treatment, like physical therapy (PT), can also help the body to heal itself by stimulating blood circulation and allowing the body to better communicate with the injured or tired area. In fact, I work with PTs all time. This complement to my practice helps patients not only recover from injuries but also helps prevent them from happening and can enhance performance.
That said, given that I’ve treated patients head to toe, from tennis elbow, to pulled obliques, to a number of leg, arm, back, neck and shoulder issues, to knee pain, to achilles tendonitis, to wrist, toe and finger problems and more, you can feel confident that I’ll give you the best quality care I can offer. This means not only what I can do for you personally, but also my willingness to work in conjunction with your other health care providers or refer out, as needed.
Getting gold isn’t a result of one good race or one good day of competition. It’s a result of all the daily choices months (and possibly years) before the competition even happened. I can help keep you accountable to health and lifestyle choices that are best for you. By understanding your health holistically, we can better know what diet and exercise options will be most effective to elevate the output of not just your body, but your mind and soul as well.