How Acupuncture Can Help Soothe Pregame Anxiety
May 7, 2024
The topic of mental health in sports has been mostly ignored until fairly recently. But thanks to several high-profile athletes’ willingness to open up about their struggles, the topic is no longer quite so taboo.
“Athletes at all levels are realizing the importance of their overall mental health, mental preparation before an event and mental recovery afterward,” says Thomas R. Betts, DAOM, LAc, a sports medicine acupuncturist at Henry Ford Health. “Having your mind in the right place pays big dividends in terms of sports performance.”
One of the many tools athletes are using to get their minds healthy is acupuncture. It may be an ancient Chinese practice, but it can be useful to help improve the mental health of modern athletes.
What Is Acupuncture?
Acupuncture is a healing technique that has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for thousands of years. Acupuncture practitioners (acupuncturists) insert very fine, thin needles into the skin at various points on the body, depending on what condition they’re treating.
According to traditional Chinese medicine, the insertion points for the needles correspond to specific internal organs or energy channels in the body. “The philosophy behind traditional Chinese medicine is that acupuncture works by manipulating the flow of blood and energy to create balance and harmony in the body,” says Betts.
From a Western medicine perspective, acupuncture works by stimulating the central nervous system and by having some direct effect on the tissues in which needles are placed. Acupuncture also has a balancing effect on hormones within the body. It works well with other treatments for anxiety such as sports psychology, massage therapy, guided visualization and meditation.
How Can Acupuncture Improve Sports Performance?
Acupuncture has long been used to help people relax, reduce stress and cope with anxiety. And it can have that effect even when the acupuncturist is treating a physical problem. “Even when I’m treating an athlete for a sports injury, when I ask how they feel post treatment the overwhelming response I hear is ‘I feel so relaxed,’” says Betts.
This is why acupuncture seems like a natural fit for helping athletes of all levels cope with performance anxiety, pregame jitters or other competition-related fears. “Reducing stress helps athletes perform better,” says Betts. “And more and more athletes are realizing that taking care of their mental health and using tools to stay mentally focused can really enhance their performance.”
When Should Athletes Try Acupuncture?
Since an acupuncture session can leave you feeling super calm and relaxed, you don’t want to try it for the first time right before a game or competition. “The timing is important,” says Betts. “You want the athlete to feel motivated to compete, not totally Zenned out.”
The best approach is to schedule a series of acupuncture sessions in the weeks leading up to a big game, competition or race. Betts says he typically recommends athletes come in twice a week for three weeks to get started. “It’s not about treating their anxiety in the moments before a game,” he says. “It’s about establishing a baseline of calm that they can carry with them into the competition.”
While there’s still some stigma surrounding athletes and mental health, Betts sees the popularity of acupuncture as one sign of a shift. “I think we’re trending in the right direction for mental health,” he says. “Athletes are starting to understand that if they want longevity and success in their sport, they need to take care of their mental and emotional health—not just the physical.”
Reviewed by Thomas Betts, DOAM, RAc, a certified sports acupuncturist who sees patients at the Henry Ford Center for Athletic Medicine in Detroit.
To find a sports medicine provider at Henry Ford Health, visit henryford.com/athletes or call 313-651-1969.
5 Ways Acupuncture Can Enhance Athletic Performance
May 9, 2023
In the ancient Chinese medicine of acupuncture, thin needles are gently inserted into specific areas of the body, stimulating blood flow to speed the recovery of certain ailments.
It can be used as a treatment for everything from headaches and unbalanced hormones to joint pain and weakened immune systems. Acupuncture is also popular among athletes, as many of them incorporate it into their wellness regimens to stay in peak physical condition.
“Back in the day, athletes ate steak, smoked cigars and drank whiskey during the week and then played football on Sunday,” says Thomas Betts, a sports medicine acupuncturist with Henry Ford Health System. “But today, to improve their performance, athletes are attacking the body from every angle possible with diet, lifestyle and exercise. NBA players, for example, have talked about how acupuncture keeps them feeling their best.”
But you don’t have to be an NBA star to reap the benefits of acupuncture. Whether you’re a professional or student athlete, or you exercise and play sports for fun or to challenge yourself, here are ways acupuncture can boost your game:
- Acupuncture can help you recover more quickly from an injury. “If a muscle is torn, acupuncture won’t put it back together, but for sprains and strains, muscle soreness and tendonitis, acupuncture can decrease inflammation and speed the healing process,” says Betts.
- Acupuncture can reduce the need for “rest days.” If you just had an intense workout and your muscles are sore, getting acupuncture afterward can loosen the muscles and decrease soreness so you don’t have to take a day off to recuperate before training again.
- Acupuncture can improve flexibility, decrease muscle tension and increase muscle activation. “This is done with motor point acupuncture,” says Betts. “The motor point is where the brain attaches to the muscle via the motor nerve. By using needles to stimulate a motor point, it is like rebooting a phone or computer that isn’t working well: Motor point acupuncture is autoregulating, in that it can deactivate a tight muscle or reactivate an inhibited or weak muscle.”
- Acupuncture can provide immediate pain relief. “Some studies show that acupuncture can provide as much as, if not more pain relief than medication,” Betts says. “It differs for everyone, and it depends on what is being treated, but some people say they feel a difference right after a session, and others say they feel better about 20 to 30 minutes later.” Pain relief can last from a few hours to a few days.
- Acupuncture can help prevent injury. Because acupuncture can reactivate weak muscles and decrease muscle tension, it can also be used as a preventative measure against injury, Betts says. But you should always still stretch before and after exercising!
Learn more about acupuncture and other integrative medicine services at Henry Ford. To make an appointment, you can request one online or by calling 1-833-246-4347.
Thomas Betts, DOAM, RAc, is a certified sports acupuncturist with Henry Ford Health. He sees patients at the Henry Ford Center for Athletic Medicine in Detroit.