Elite Athletes Turn To Alternative Medicine
I'm sure you missed me last week. I know, I'm slacking big time! Only one blog post! There's really no excuses...well...okay, there's a few - full time job, renovating two bathrooms, and launching our vitamin line.....
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I didn't plan as well as I should have last week. Shame on me! What I didn't want to do was just throw together some blah blog post and not provide you with quality information. There's no sense in publishing mediocre content, so now I'm refreshed and wanted to provide you with something GREAT! So here it is....hopefully the content is top notch like you expect!
As you know, the 2016 Olympics in Rio have begun and I can say it's my husband's favorite pass time. It's time to get into the Olympic spirit! Go #TeamUSA!! Where's your patriotic gear?
Our favorite sports are definitely beach volleyball and gymnastics when it comes to the Summer Olympics, but we watch all types of events and even DVR those that we might miss because of work, ugh.
Obviously these athletes need to stay in tip-top shape and can sometimes fall to injury. I couldn't watch Samir Ait Said's terrible gymnastic injury and I can't even imagine the amount of pain he could've possible been in. I keep telling myself, "Thank goodness my husband is a chiropractor and not an ER doctor!" I can't handle much blood and gore and I can tell you that I'm definitely glad for those amazing nurses, EMT's and doctors out there who deal with that everyday!
With the excessive training of an elite athlete comes preventative medicine. As you can imagine, most elite athletes are held to some type of no-tolerance policy and some pain medications can have side effects that can alter the athlete's performance. Many athletes turn to alternative medicines and therapies.
If you've been watching swimming, you've probably seen or heard the reference of Chinese cupping Therapy that Michael Phelps used. Bob and I both laughed at the announcer that was talking about it. It's amazing what people will say when they aren't familiar with something. The announcer acted like it was something new, when in fact Chinese cupping therapy has been around for thousands of years, dating back to Hippocrates!
Photo courtesy of Annie Lindberg Acupuncture.
So what is cupping? This ancient Chinese medicine technique is used to reduce pain and increase circulation in the affected areas. Think of this technique as the opposite of a massage. With a massage, the deep tissue is pushed downward in motions to relieve the tension in the muscles. Cupping has the same effect but in the opposite direction. This technique uses small cups to provide suction to pull the pressure out of the muscle to provide relief. Patients often experience bruising from the suction.
Cupping Therapy is typically done by heating the cups before application, either by hot water or fire. If you want to read more about cupping, I suggest this article. If you're interested in having a cupping therapy done, many acupuncture clinics offer the service. You can expect to pay around the same amount for a cupping therapy as a chiropractic procedure, somewhere in the range of $30-60.
For your viewing pleasure, we've also included a video that shows how a "dry cupping" technique is performed.
This type of alternative medicine provides relief without the use of prescription drugs, so no need to worry about any potential addiction properties. The procedure might even make you feel like a bada$$ with those circular bruises you can show off to your friends! Or...maybe not, but either way, I think it's pretty cool!
Here at Skeletonex, we support many different alternative medicine practices. If you have an alternative medicine practice in Western, PA, we want to know about it! Shoot us over an e-mail!
If you want to read more about Chinese cupping, check out this book:
Thanks for tuning in! Until next time...
Be Natural. Be Honest. Be Healthy.
