MattSavinar.netIt's unfortunate but a lot of men shy away from alternative or eastern methods of medicine such as acupuncture because they think of the as "new agey" or somehow effeminate. I can't help but suspect the mainstream medicine cartels (ie, the pharmaceutical companies) have somehow played a role in creating this image to dissuade men from looking into a lot of these methods.
Please note that if you're scared or uneasy at the prospect of having needles put into your body, you can consider acupressure which uses the same principals of acupuncture but substitutes touch for needles. (I, for instance, am in an Acupressure certification program via the Eastern Holistic Center in Sebastopol, California) If you'd like to try out a few simple techniques on yourself, consider any of the books or DVDs on "energy medicine" by Donna Eden advertised over in the left hand side bar.
While perusing the Sports Illustrated archives, I came across the following 1972 article on athletes and acupuncture. The article is loaded with examples of major sports stars of the 1960s and 1970s who used acupuncture including NFL player Ed Lothamer:
Ed Lothamer, the 270-pound defensive tackle for the Kansas City Chiefs, lost his skepticism altogether. Lothamer had no idea that he would soon be decorated with gold and silver needles, silver balls, inked Xs and pink tape when he first met Dr. Kunzo Nagayama, president of the Pain Control Institute of Kyoto, Japan, who was in Kansas City visiting a chiropractor friend, Dr. Richard D. Yennie. Lothamer, who spends a good deal of time at Dr. Yennie's judo-karate school, had been suffering stiffness and recurrent pain in his lower back for some eight months — ever since he felt something snap there while he was lifting 500 pounds from a squat. And recent bouts with the flu had left him with a low energy level, commonly known as the blahs. Drs. Nagayama and Yennie suggested he try acupuncture.
"I was skeptical about it," Lothamer says, "but then I decided, why not? First Dr. Nagayama said he wanted to take my pulse. Take off your shirt,' he told me.
"It turned out he wanted to take my pulse not on my wrist but at various places on my back. He patted it all over and said I had good circulation in my upper back but that it wasn't so good down lower."
Dr. Nagayama concluded that the flow of vital energy in the Ching Lo meridian associated with the lower back had to be stimulated. The classical and possibly sexist Chinese diagnosis would be that there was too much Yin, or feminine, negative static energy down there, clogging up the spiritual works, and therefore some Yang, or masculine, positive, dynamic energy had to be stirred up to restore the balance.
"He started by sticking one needle into my hand," reports Lothamer. "I hardly felt it. Then he began probing my back with his hands and every time he'd find a spot where I reacted because of soreness he'd mark an X on it with a pen. He marked about 25 places and then he picked out 20 of them and began inserting needles. They looked like they were made of gold and silver and were about the size of the filament in a light bulb. I hardly felt them going in. He left them in for from three to five minutes, occasionally vibrating them.
"Next he put two larger needles in my back and drew about two centimeters of blood. He withdrew these needles and where they had gone in he placed two small silver balls, taping them in place with small squares of pink tape. He told me to leave the balls in place for three days but didn't explain why. Next he put needles in each of my calves and one in each ankle. Then he put one in the middle of my stomach and when he took that one out later he taped one of the silver balls where the needle had made a small hole. After that he put three needles in each of my arms. While he was inserting one of them in the outer side of my right forearm I suddenly felt my whole right hand go dead. This sort of upset me but he said this effect was perfectly normal."
Also normal, according to advocates of acupuncture, were the effects that Lothamer says he began to feel shortly after the removal of the needles. His energy returned, and it has remained. He now feels "more circulation in my back than I've had for years. My back has taken quite a beating in four years of college and eight years of pro ball and for a long time that area hadn't felt very much alive." Lothamer finds that he no longer feels stiff in the morning if he lies the wrong way at night, and whereas he used to tighten up after jogging half a mile, he can go nearly two miles now with no trouble. Lothamer thinks that pro teams should try acupuncture. Source: Sports Illustrated Vault
Acupuncture has gained considerable traction in elite level sports medicine circles since the above excerpted SI article. For instance, Charles Poliquin - a Canadian strength training coach who has trained world class athletes such as Olympic Gold medal sprinter Donovan Bailey, NFL wide receiver David Boston, NHL All-Star Chris Pronger and others - has incorporated elements of traditional Chinese medicine into his practice. In a 2006 article he wrote:
I was studying Eastern medicine and herbology, and it suddenly occurred to me that these variations in training types correlate strongly with the five physical types described in Chinese medicine. These "elements," as they are known, are used to categorize distinct physical types who manifest very distinct personality traits. The elements are Fire, Wood, Earth, Metal, and Water.
Amazingly, each of these ancient classifications predicts quite accurately how different strength athletes respond to different types of training. It also predicts quite accurately their personalities and even their weaknesses. Source: Charles Poliquin
In 2007, the journal Medical Acupuncture published an article entitled "Battlefield Acupuncture" authored by Dr. Richard C. Niemtzow, a colonel in the U.S. Air Force. Unfortunately, the article is behind a paywall. A quick google search, however, pulls up the following editorial by Dr. Niemtzow on the potential benefits of battlefield acupuncture:
The United States Armed Forces does not employ acupuncture on the battlefield. Many Asian countries do incorporate acupuncture by virtue of their own traditional practice of medicine. Noteworthy is that traditional Chinese acupuncture being practiced on the Asian battlefield today may now incorporate the use of Western narcotic and non-narcotic analgesics.
Perhaps the most substantial complaint from American military physicians is that prescribing narcotics for severe pain on the battlefield is a reason to temporarily remove the soldier from duty, which severely handicaps, if not terminates, a critical military mission. I proposed in my lecture that ear acupuncture be utilized individually or by the buddy system in a combat situation. Small semi-permanent gold needles may be injected in both ears in the areas of the cingulate gyrus and thalamus points. The anatomic landmarks are very evident, and the technique may be taught in less than 1 hour to combat troops. Although other ear points exist and are useful for pain relief, it is not the purpose to train these troops in the art of auriculotherapy. Based on our clinical data, the attenuation of pain from these small needles injected into the cingulate gyrus and thalamus points may at times equal or surpass that of narcotics without the side effects of mental deprivation. Thus, a military mission may be continued without major compromise.
Several of my colleagues have used this "battlefield acupuncture" technique with a maximum total of 2 needles in each ear achieving outstanding clinical results in their private practice. I urge you to try this technique in the clinic employing the cingulate gyrus and thalamus points especially on patients with fibromyalgia.
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Similarly, in a 2001 interview with bodybuilding magazine "T-Nation", strength and conditioning expert Dr. Ken Kinakain had the following to say when asked about the use of acupuncture:
T: Last year a few people presented on acupuncture. Is this becoming more of an accepted practice?
KK: Yes. Acupuncture works by changing the energetic systems. There are different meridians going throughout the entire body. If there any injuries or scar tissues or even surgeries, you cut the actual meridians and therefore you create a dysfunction within the muscle or joint complex. The acupuncture changes that. It’s also very good for getting into really deep tissues (especially along the spine) that you can’t get with manual massage.
But the wildest thing is that it changes the scar tissue, especially with any kind of pec tear or biceps tear. I had one bodybuilder who tore his right biceps; he actually had almost a hole in it. We treated him for six months with acupuncture and electrical stimulation.
It got to the point where the muscle actually started to fill in. I don’t know what the exact mechanism is yet, but it does seem to break down the scar tissue and regenerate the muscle tissue in that area so you can start to develop it again. Now, it does seem you have to hook it up to electricity — a mild microcurrent — to get this effect.
T: Now when you talk about meridians and energy pathways, it almost sounds like you’re talking about chakras and tree hugging and all that new age stuff. But acupuncture is legitimate, huh?
KK: Totally! It’s been around a couple of centuries and yes it does work. It’s something we don’t fully understand yet, but we know it works unbelievably. It’s something I use in the clinic everyday and it fixes problems you wouldn’t be able to fix any other way.
In fact, the entire body, acupuncture wise, is represented in the ear. I know some medical doctors that treat any problem in your body by putting needles in your ear and stimulating different areas. They’re getting incredible results. That’s one of the most powerful ways to stop smoking, too, by putting needles or little needle pellets in the ear area. Source: T-Nation.com
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