Researchers in Taiwan have found that acupuncture can reduce blood lactic acid and enhance recovery from muscle fatigue after exercise.
Thirty male basketball players were randomly assigned to three groups, acupuncture, sham control, and no treatment. After exercising to exhaustion, the acupuncture group had significantly lower heart rate, oxygen consumption and blood lactic acid than the other two groups, at thirty minutes after cessation of exercise. Blood lactic acid also remained lower in the acupuncture group, after sixty minutes. The researchers say their findings have shed some light on the development of effective acupuncture schemes to enhance recovery from exercise in elite basketball athletes.
(Effects of Acupuncture Stimulation on Recovery Ability of Male Elite Basketball Athletes. American Journal of Chinese Medicine, vol 37, no 3, 2009.)
Author: Robin Costello
I offer traditional Chinese acupuncture in Exeter, from a tranquil clinic a mile from the city centre, and next to the University of Exeter. I graduated originally from the London School of Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine’s 3 year full time Acupuncture Diploma (DipAc) course. I am on the practitioners register of the British Acupuncture Council (MBAcC), a regulatory and professional body with an entry standard of a full three year undergraduate degree level training.
I have worked in a hospital in south west China, deepening my knowledge and using acupuncture and Chinese massage (tuina) as the treatment of choice in its country of origin. I have taught Chinese medicine in colleges, the NHS and at university level. I also practise Qi Gong, and Chinese dietary therapy, that is the medicinal use of ordinary foods, chosen to help achieve particular therapeutic effects in different individuals.
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