Can Acupuncture Help Knee Injuries?
I’’ll spare you the suspense. The answer is yes, it has potential to help. Knee injuries are some of the most common sports injuries for a variety of athletes, but especially in those involved in sports that heavily rely on the lower body like skiing, snowboarding (though I see ankle and wrist injuries most often with snowboarding), hiking, running, mountain biking. But not all knee injuries are the same. Some are acute in nature—like a traumatic event resulting in an ACL tear—and some are chronic in nature—like chondromalacia which happens over a long period of time. In the Chinese Medicine terminology, acute knee injuries are caused by Qi and Blood stagnation often with heat and fluid accumulation if there is swelling, whereas chronic knee issues are often have a Cold component (lack of blood flow or physiological function) sometimes with Dampness that could develop into Bi Syndrome with deeper involvement of the tendons or bones.
In this series I will break down knee injuries and describe how acupuncture can help with pain, healing or (in worst case scenarios) help prep the area before surgery and speed recovery after. Because of acupuncture’s versatile nature, it can be useful in various situations from helping to increases ROM of a joint after an injury, to reducing inflammation and increasing blood flow, to increasing proprioception to the affected area setting the body up to re-pattern more optimal movement. Paired with physical therapy and strength training post injury, many people come back stronger than they were before the injury.
Below is a list of some of the injuries I’ll cover (I’ll add direct links to this post as they get posted…stay tuned!). Is your injury or concern not covered in the list below? Send me and email at whitney@balanceptacu.com and I’ll consult you with your particular case.
PCL injury
meniscus injury
MCL injury
LCL injury
IT Band Friction Syndrome
chondromalacia
patellofemoral syndrome (“runner’s knee”)
patellar tendinopathy (“jumpers knee”)
baker’s cysts
IT Band Stress Syndrome
Osgood-Schlatter disease
Sinding-Larsen-Johansson syndrome
Resources:
Callison M, Schreiber A, Ryan NT, Livermore M, Scoggins A. Sports Medicine Acupuncture : An Integrated Approach Combining Sports Medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine. San Diego, Calif. Acusport Education; 2019.