Acupuncture and Dry Needling for Sports Performance and Recovery

Tang CT, Song B · Current Sports Medicine Reports · 2022 June

Objective

Acupuncture and dry needling share many similarities in their proposed mechanisms of action and their sports medicine-related applications.

Conclusions

Needling can likely improve muscular strength and power, including increasing jump height, and it also can increase flexibility. In terms of sports recovery, acupuncture can not only be used for pain relief after injury, but also can help with routine recovery, such as in delayed onset muscle soreness. There are numerous case reports of acupuncture and dry needling being used to treat athletes for various diagnoses and conditions, however more high quality studies are needed in order to make more specific evidence-based recommendations. Given the high degree of safety and limited adverse events associated with needling treatments, it can likely be promoted in athletes.

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