Archive for October 2017
Acupuncture for the Modern Athlete: How Blood Flow Affects Performance
Improving blood flow to improve your athletic performance
During workout
Better blood flow, in which sufficient oxygen reaches your muscles, allows you to effect a longer and more beneficial workout. As you move, your heart rate rises and your heart pumps blood to all the parts of your body which are necessary to keep you moving at this higher level. Your metabolic rate then increases, meaning that your body needs more energy to keep going without feeling fatigued; it acquires this energy by producing ATP, an energy molecule whose two main inputs are glucose and oxygen. A healthy circulatory system ensures that oxygen is getting where it needs to be in your body during workout.
Post workout
In the period immediately following your workout, you should be intaking protein and nutrients that will help your muscles rebuild from the micro-traumas that they incur during exercise. Better blood flow means that these nutrients will reach your muscles in the right quantities to facilitate effective regrowth.
Athletes should make good blood flow a priority
At Community Chiropractic & Acupuncture in Park Slope, we use acupuncture to help improve blood flow in athletes, helping them get the most out of their activities. Acupuncture stimulates circulation by dilating blood vessels and decreasing muscular stress. If you are interested in using acupuncture to effect improvements in your athletic performance, give our office in Brooklyn a call to schedule an appointment today.
Acupuncture for Depression and Anxiety
Alternatives to prescription medication for depression and anxiety
Studies are showing that regular acupuncture treatments are effective for treating depression and anxiety; as a further consideration, acupuncture is considered safe and does not have a long list of side effects. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, acupuncture works by correcting blockages in the body’s energy pathways. Along the way it releases natural painkilling chemicals in the brain and rebalances the central nervous system. Studies have shown that acupuncture is comparable with cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for treating depression and anxiety. Acupuncture is further effective as part of a plan for reducing dependency on prescription drugs such as benzodiazepines. As part of a holistic healthcare method that combines CBT, control over diet, and therapeutic exercise, acupuncture can contribute to the calming, sedative effect that people come to crave with your medication.
Treating depression and anxiety with acupuncture
Your body has a unique balance and acupuncture focuses on identifying the malefactors that are disrupting this equilibirum. At Community Chiropractic & Acupuncture, we are interested in providing our patients with the most up-to-date natural treatments for stress, anxiety and depression. If you are interested in managing your depression or anxiety with non-prescription methods, give our office in Park Slope a call to start the conversation today.
Acupuncture for the Modern Athlete: Using Acupuncture to Boost Immunity
Acupuncture’s effect on immunity
Acupuncture boosts the body’s immune response by increasing circulation and fighting off inflammation. From the Traditiona Chinese Medicine perspective, acupuncture regulates the body’s energy pathways. In Western Medicine, this effect is experienced as improving blood flow throughout the body. Furthermore, acupuncture has powerful anti-inflammatory capacities. Because inflammation is now thought to be the base of so many diseases, the anti-inflammatory effect of acupuncture is seen as an effective aid for the body’s immune response in battling off illness when energy reserves are low.
What slow’s an athlete down more than illness?
During any interval of training, acupuncture is recognized as an effective aid for improving immunity and resistance to illness. Receiving treatments in the hours following intense exercise increases circulation, oxygen and nutrient flow and allows your body to rest and recuperate effectively for the training ahead. If you are interested in using acupuncture to improve athletic performance, give our office in Park Slope a call to schedule an appointment today.
Acupuncture for the Modern Athlete: Dry Needling for Trigger Point Pain
Using acupuncture needles to deactivate trigger points
Once a trigger point is located, we use thin needles to release them. This has been found to be one of the most effective ways of treating trigger point related pain and dysfunction. By deactivating the trigger point, we restore normal function to the muscle and reduce referred pain in other parts of the body. Athletes benefit from dry needle trigger point therapy in the following ways:
- Pain relief
- Restoring normal muscle function
- Improving circulation
- Improving range of motion
If you are interested in using acupuncture for trigger point pain, give our office in Park Slope a call to schedule an appointment today.
Acupuncture for the Modern Athlete: Motor Point Needling
How motor point needling works
Acupuncture points, found along the body’s energy meridians, often coincide with crucial points in the musculoskeletal network known as motor points. Motor points are the specific locations at which nerves enter the muscle. Gently inserting an acupuncture needle essentially resets a contracted muscle at the point of its nerve attachment, allowing for relaxation of the muscle, improved joint function and less pain. This is a perfect example of how an ancient form of medicine is brought forward into the 21st century to great effect.
Acupuncture for improving athletic performance
Motor point needling is just one of the ways we are helping athletes treat their bodies using effective, holistic modalities. If you are interested in using acupuncture to improve your athletic performance in a natural manner, give our office in Brooklyn a call to schedule an appointment today.
How to Go About: Looking Confident and Feeling Your Best
How we can make this position the new norm
It begins with awareness- now that you know what it feels like to have your postural muscles engaged and holding you upright, we want to work to make this your new normal. At our office in Park Slope, we work with you to help you establish good postural health. This means:
- Providing spinal adjustment to realign the spine, improving range of motion and reducing pain.
- Focusing on stretching and elongating overly-tight postural muscles which are suffering from overuse in poor posture.
- Focus on strengething under-used phasic muscles to lend support and stability to the core.
If you are interested in changing your postural health for the better, give our office in Brooklyn a call to schedule an appointment today.