Healing the soft tissue injuries in athletes with acupuncture

Perhaps the fatal flaw of western medicine is its inability to treat soft tissue injuries effectively. Its main strengths are the twin pillars of surgery and medication. But with a soft tissue injury, pharmaceuticals often only mask the problem, and surgery can sometimes do more harm than good.
Fortunately, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been successfully dealing with soft tissue injuries for thousands of years. Acupuncture, a process that involves inserting thin needles into the body to promote healing, has shown some promise effectively treating these injuries. Even in clinical trials (although further study is still required).
The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of acupuncture in the treatment of soft tissue injuries in athletes.
Study Tasks: classification of sports injuries, classification of soft tissue injuries and classification of types of sports practiced by athletes with soft tissue injuries
Methods of study: The study was conducted in PI Center for Traditional Chinese medicine - Stip. The study involved 38 athletes with soft tissue injuries, which are divided into two groups.
 Patients from the control group received conservative treatment with RICE protocol, physical therapy and kinesiotherapy.
 Patients from the Experimental Group received acupuncture treatment on the tendino-muscle meridians (TMM) and Jing-Well points (12 acupoints located at the tips of the fingers and toes).
Results: We found that many kinds of symptoms were managed by stimulating a single point or combination of points, including all the 12 Jing-Well points. The stimulation methods included acupuncture, moxibustion and bloodletting puncture.
Discussion: The jing-well point is the only acupuncture point directly shared by both the primary meridian and the tendino-muscle meridian. The Jing-Well points are 12 acupoints located at the tips of the fingers and toes, except for Yongquan (KI1), which is located on the sole. These points together constitute the first set of Five-Shu points, next to the nails, and form the origin of the 12 Yin and Yang meridians.
Conclusion: Treating the tendino-muscle meridians (TMM) is one of the first things to consider in treating sports injuries and pain. Their treatment is often overlooked and under-utilized. The activation of these important pathways can be crucial to effectively treating patients with acute trauma or repetitive-stress injuries.
Keywords: soft tissues, injuries, contusions, sprains, strains, muscles, ligaments, tendons, acupuncture.