You don’t have to be a professional athlete to have a sports injury.
Maybe your shoulder started hurting after tennis.
Your knee aches every time you play pickleball.
Your back tightens up halfway through a round of golf. That nagging Achilles pain that you thought would disappear after a few days of rest is still there three weeks later.
For most active people, the frustrating part isn’t simply that something hurts.
It’s that the pain is keeping you from doing what you love.
At Lighthouse Acupuncture & Wellness Center, that’s what we want to change.
The Injury Might Be Common. Your Treatment Shouldn’t Be.
Sports injuries happen for all kinds of reasons. Sometimes there’s an obvious moment when something goes wrong. You twist an ankle, pull a muscle, or feel something in your shoulder during a workout.
Other injuries build gradually.
You keep playing through a little soreness until one day that “little soreness” isn’t so little anymore.
Some of the sports injuries we commonly treat include:
- Rotator cuff and shoulder injuries
- Tennis and golfer’s elbow
- Knee pain
- Runner’s knee
- Hamstring and quadriceps strains
- Hip and groin pain
- Ankle sprains
- Achilles tendon injuries
- Plantar fasciitis
- Shin splints
- Low back pain
- Muscle strains and overuse injuries
But the name of your injury is only part of the picture.
Two people can walk into our office with the exact same diagnosis and need completely different treatment plans.
That’s why we look beyond where it hurts.
Why Does That Injury Keep Coming Back?
This is something we see all the time.
You rest.
It feels better.
You go back to your sport.
And the pain comes right back.
Rest can calm an irritated area, but it doesn’t necessarily address why the injury happened in the first place.
Maybe your hip isn’t moving the way it should, so your knee is taking on extra stress. Maybe weakness around your shoulder blade is forcing your rotator cuff to work harder. Maybe an old ankle injury changed the way you move and now you’re dealing with pain somewhere else.
The painful area isn’t always the entire problem.
Our job is to figure out what’s contributing to the injury so we can treat it more effectively.
Sports Medicine Acupuncture Is Different
Sports Medicine Acupuncture combines acupuncture with a detailed understanding of orthopedic injuries, anatomy, muscle function, and movement.
Instead of simply putting needles where you hurt, we evaluate the muscles and movement patterns involved in your injury and develop a treatment plan specifically for you.
Depending on your condition, your treatment may include acupuncture, Sports Medicine Acupuncture, electroacupuncture, ATP Resonance BioTherapy®, cupping, soft tissue therapy, corrective exercises, and mobility recommendations.
The goal isn’t just to make something hurt less for a few days.
We want you moving better so you can get back to your sport and stay there.
You Don’t Have to Be a Professional Athlete to Be Treated Like One
We’ve treated professional athletes, but most of our sports medicine patients aren’t getting paid to compete.
They’re golfers who want to finish 18 holes without their back tightening up.
They’re runners who want to get back to their morning miles.
They’re tennis and pickleball players who are tired of their elbow or shoulder hurting every time they play.
They’re people who love CrossFit, strength training, cycling, swimming, yoga, or simply staying active.
Your sport doesn’t have to be your career for it to matter.
If it’s important to you, getting you back to it is important to us.
Pain Is Not a Training Strategy
Active people are notoriously good at ignoring pain.
You tell yourself you’ll stretch more. You’ll take a couple of days off. You’ll ice it after you play. You’ll just avoid that one movement that bothers it.
And sometimes that works.
But when the same pain keeps returning, your body is telling you something.
Continuing to work around an injury can create compensation patterns that eventually lead to additional problems. Getting it evaluated early gives us an opportunity to address the issue before a nagging injury becomes the reason you stop doing something you love.
Our Goal Is to Get You Back in the Game
We don’t measure success by whether you can sit on the couch without pain.
We want to know if you can swing your golf club again.
Get back on the tennis court.
Lift weights.
Play pickleball.
Train for your next race.
That’s the difference between simply treating pain and treating an athlete.
Whether you’re a competitive athlete, a weekend warrior, or someone who simply refuses to let getting older mean becoming less active, we’re here to help.
If a sports injury has been keeping you on the sidelines, schedule a complimentary consultation with Dr. Lisa McCoog at Lighthouse Acupuncture & Wellness Center. We’ll evaluate what’s going on, talk about what you want to get back to, and develop a personalized treatment plan to help you return to the activities you love.