Developing effective methods for helping athletes recover from muscle fatigue is deemed essential, particularly on the eves' important competitions. This study aimed to investigate the effects of acupuncture stimulation on athletes' recovery abilities. Subjects were selected from 30 male elite university basketball players who were randomly assigned to 3 groups: acupuncture group, sham group, and normal (control) group, each containing 10 subjects. Acupuncture was carried out on each athlete in acupuncture group at the Neiguan (PC6) and Zusanli (ST36) acupoints, beginning at 15 min prior to exercise and continuing until exhaustion of the subject. Similar acupuncture was also carried out on each athlete in the sham group but the positions were 1 cm away from the PC6 and ST36 acupoints. No acupuncture was conducted on the athletes in the normal group. During the experiments, each subject performed separate runs on the treadmill. The data of heart rate (HR(max)), oxygen consumption (VO(2max)), and blood lactic acid were measured during the rest period and at 3 recovery points of time (5th, 30th and 60th min) post-exercise. The results showed that the acupuncture group (PC6 and ST36) has significantly lower HR(max), VO(2max) and blood lactic acid than both the sham and normal groups at the 30th min post-exercise. Blood lactic acid of the acupuncture group was also significantly lower than that of the other two groups in the 60th min post-exercise. Our findings have shed some light on the development of effective acupuncture schemes to enhance the recovery ability for elite basketball athletes.
This study investigated the effects of auricular acupuncture on athletes' recovery abilities after exercise. Subjects were selected from twenty-four male elite university basketball players, randomly divided into two groups: auricular acupuncture group (AAG), and normal control group (NCG), each group containing twelve subjects. Auricular acupuncture was experimented to each AAG athlete while no auricular acupuncture was conducted to each NCG athlete. Each subject in both groups performed a ride on the stationary bike until exhausted. The data of heart rate (HR(max)), oxygen consumption (VO(2 max)), and blood lactic acid were measured at four points of time: during the rest period after warm-ups and at the 5th, 30th and 60th minutes post-exercise, respectively. One-way ANOVA and repeated Scheffé methods were used to test the differences of the data between these two groups. The results showed that both HR(max) and blood lactic acid in AAG were significantly lower than those in NCG at the 30th and 60th minutes post-exercise. This suggests that auricular acupuncture can enhance athletes' recovery abilities after aggressive exercise.
Wrestling normally places extreme demands on the body and thus may cause various kinds of injuries. An in-depth understanding of the episodes of injured sites, types, timings, and treatment modalities would help participants be aware of wrestling-related injury occurrences so as to develop effective preventive measures. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the gender-specific injuries among elite wrestling athletes. Subjects were selected from the 2009 Taiwanese National Wrestling Sport Championship. Participants were adolescent wrestling athletes, ages 16-18, who must have received at least one bronze medal at national level tournaments in 2008. A total of 118 respondents, 96 males and 22 females, completed and returned the questionnaire in which demographic data and information about the types, sites, and timings of injuries suffered and treatment modalities adopted were elicited. The data were analyzed with independent t-tests. The questionnaire results revealed a significantly higher injury rate for males than for females. The top three injured sites for males were waist (11.1%), ankle joint (10.1%) and finger (9.6%); while for females were ankle joint (13.6%), knee (12.5%) and waist (11.3%). Contusions were the most frequent type of injury: for males (73.5%) and for females (70.6%); followed by tendon inflammation for males (10.7%) and accumulated injuries for females (15.2%). During training and matching periods, the frequency of injuries for males (69.0%) is lower than that for females (81.8%). Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) with acupuncture and moxibustion was the most common treatment modalities used for males (51.8%) and for females (68.0%); followed by orthopedics: for males (29.5%) and for females (18.0%). The present study contributed as the first effort to reveal the potency of using TCM with acupuncture and moxibustion in wrestling competitions. To prevent possible brain and body injuries in wrestling, safety education, skills and rules, and scoring systems may require further revision. Increased training of wrestling health professionals and advanced research and development of auxiliary training devices and protective equipment for wrestling athletes are also recommended.
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