Runners, mountain bikers, skiers—leg sport people—listen up. That constant, nagging pain on the outside of your knee is not uncommon, but it’s also not normal. Pain on the outside of the knee can be caused by a few different things, one of which is issues with the IT (illiotibial) band.

As we move out of winter and into the glorious warm days of spring, many athletes are transitioning from treadmills and indoor tracks to the winding, mountainous trails as they melt out from being covered in winter’s snow. With this change in venue, elevation and surface can come shin splints, knee pain, hip pain, among other aches and pains.

ACL injuries are some of the most common knee injuries. But what does an injury to the ACL entail and how can acupuncture help the healing?

Climbers, snowboarders, soccer players, runners—I have seen hamstring strains in a variety of different sports. So how does you get a hamstring strain and what can you do about it?

We live in a skier’s paradise, and Glenwood Springs is perfectly situated to dawn patrol up Williams Peak or jet up to Aspen and blow cold smoke. And like so many other outdoor sports, when the season is in, it’s nonstop. But how is your body holding up to all that use and abuse trying to squeeze out every little ounce of the goods during the season?

Many times pain may indicate actual tissue damage (like a sprained ankle, broken toe, ruptured tendon), but there are other times it is a multi-faucets sensation from the body that might not be linked to any damage of the tissue at all.

Remember the marks on the back and shoulders of swimmer Michael Phelps and gymnast Alexander Naddour in the 2016 Rio Olympics that sparked great debate? Those marks are from cupping. While the Olympics made those little suction marks famous, Chinese Medicine has been utilizing this technique for thousands of years. But what is cupping and how does it work?

Because of acupuncture’s affect on the nervous system and thus the cascade of stress hormones, acupuncture can reduce cortisol levels (caused by both physical and mental stress) and thus help set up an athlete’s body for optimal functioning.

Acupuncture’s ability to nudge the body’s natural healing responses is one way in which acupuncture can help heal sports injuries.