Several years ago, I became afflicted with frozen shoulder syndrome, otherwise known as adhesive capsulitis. It’s a fairly common ailment among lifters and non-lifters alike. My mother had been taking acupuncture treatments for years to deal with the inflammation and pain associated with her cancer treatments, and she recommended I visit her acupuncturist, Dr. Chris Leininger, Doctor of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine (DACM), Dipl., AC & ABT (NCCAOM), LAc. It was the one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
If you’ve been exercising with any intensity for long, you’re sure to have developed some form of ailment, probably related to inflammation. Or, if some kind of chronic pain is inhibiting your treadmill workouts, it can seriously inhibit your progress. Here in the Western countries, we’ve become conditioned to accept surgery and pain medications as the answer to all problems. What I’ve found is that acupuncture and other forms of Chinese medicine happen to be just as good, in some cases, even better. If you’re needing pain management for the back, neck, shoulder, elbow, wrist, knee, ankle or foot, or suffer peripheral neuropathy, you might want to check out a local acupuncture clinic.
Editor Brian Boyce receives regular acupuncture treatments to offset inflammation.
What is Acupuncture?
If you’re like most westerners, your first thought at the word “acupuncture” involves needles. It’s true, many practitioners use needling as part of their treatments, as well as cupping. But what I’ve found is that acupuncture and Chinese medicine simply represent a completely different paradigm by which one views health and medical treatment. Typically drug- and surgery-free, these treatments can be used to address a number of common ailments from a more holistic perspective.
Acupuncture promotes natural healing and at its core is a concept called Qi (pronounced “chee”), which references the vital energy which flows throughout the body. Qi animates the body and protects it from illness, pain, and disease. To me, this term reminds me of the old-fashioned word, “constitution.” It used to be said of athletes and healthy people that we have a good constitution. Per the principles of acupuncture, Qi flows through certain pathways called meridians, numbering 14 within the body, which act like rivers in the body. Where these medians flow within the body, they bring energy to the cells, organs, glands, and tissues there.
For any number of reasons, these meridians can become blocked. Those reasons could be due to injury, lack of exercise, poor diet, or any kind of trauma. Inflammation, for instance, can block oxygen-rich blood from reaching certain muscles and thus worsen injury.
In addition to stimulating certain points by way of needles, an acupuncturing may use a technique called cupping. This is a process where the specialist will place cups on the affected body and use a suction, or vacuum, force, to draw the skin upwards. This pulls fluid into the affected area, including blood. The kind of cupping I’ve had done over the years is referred to as “dry cupping” where the glass cups were placed on my skin and heated. The heat is used to suck the oxygen out of the cup and the force draws the skin up into the cup with sufficient force to bring the oxygen-rich blood with it.
Other techniques associated with acupuncture include herbal remedies for inflammation.
Acupuncture treatments can involve manipulating different points within the body to stimulate Qi. Photo taken at Pure Health Acupuncture LLC
How Can Acupuncture Help With Treadmill Workouts?
My own frozen shoulder syndrome had become a real problem. Typically, the shoulder freezes over three stages, beginning with pain and stiffness, which lasts anywhere from two to nine months. The second stage is where I found myself ultimately, where the pain had dissipated but the shoulder itself had stiffened to the point I couldn’t raise my hand to eye-level. I couldn’t even move my arm to change my own shirt. This stage can last anywhere from four to 12 months before a five- to 24-month thawing period begins. I’ve known several people who have had surgery performed to treat this same ailment, and their experience was painful to say the least. When I researched acupuncture as a potential treatment I was surprised to find how commonly accepted it is.
What Dr. Leininger did for me fixed the problem in just four treatments, and I knew from the first it was going to work. As he explained it, the inflammation and scar tissue from past weightlifting injuries had built up around the hinge joint and blood wasn’t able to get in there. He attached needles into both of my shoulders, and then both of my hands. Then he ran electric wires from the needles in my shoulders down to those in my hands. When he turned the electricity on, I could feel the pulse from my good should to that hand, but in my frozen shoulder, I couldn’t feel the pulse down into that hand. What was blocking the electricity was the scar tissue around the nerve. It was also blocking oxygen-rich blood to the joint. Meanwhile, it was visibly apparent that the treatment was working. I could see my own deltoids twitching in the frozen shoulder, even though I couldn’t feel the tingle of electricity in that hand yet. It was clearly blocked up around my shoulder joint. By manipulating the frequency of the electric pulses, at a pretty low voltage, he was able to eventually break through that scar tissue and I could feel the pulse down in my hand.
The electricity and needling part of the treatment lasted about 30 minutes, after which, I rolled over on my stomach and he performed cupping on the back of my shoulder blades to pull the from front to the back. After the first treatment I could tell it was working, and three weeks later – one treatment per week – I was able to fully raise my arm up over my head. After just two months of light physical therapy, I was lifting the same weights I had before the onset of frozen shoulder syndrome.
If your treadmill workouts are inhibited due to joint pain, stiffness, or inflammation, I’d highly recommend you check with a reputable acupuncturist and see what they can do.
Editor Brian Boyce receives an acupuncture treatment with needles inserted into points in his feet, and connected to wires which transmit a light electric pulse to wires in his hands.
What Problems Can Acupuncture Help?
Over the years I’ve gone to acupuncture for treatments concerning inflammation in my shoulders, allergies, muscle pulls, and mental stress. Other patients I’ve known to benefit from acupuncture have been suffering from neuropathy, lock-jaw, and Parkinson’s Disease.
Editor Brian Boyce receives an acupuncture treatment which includes transcranial magnetic stimulation by way of a helmet.