Acupuncture for Athletes

Crossfitters. Triathletes. Cyclocross racers. Marathon and ultra runners. Kayakers. Adventure racers. Climbers. Skiers. Athletes.

You’ve come to the right place.

As an athlete, it’s crushing to be sidelined by sports injuries or unable to perform at your highest potential. Intense training puts a body through constant stress. The muscular micro tears — critical for building muscle mass when given time to rest and recover — often don’t heal properly under many intense training regimens. This can lead to fatigue, injury, and chronic pain. Over time, the micro damage can build up, affecting not only performance and body function, but also the longevity of your athletic career and overall quality of life.

Many techniques for pain relief focus solely on the presenting symptom. And many practitioners are trained to resolve the current injury and pain symptoms, leaving the imbalances in a body that may lead to reduced performance and reinjury unaddressed.

The Maynard Clinic specializes in treating whole athletes.

We excel in using Sports Medicine Acupuncture® techniques to return the body to balance, restore energy, and promote the body’s natural healing power to correct injury and accelerate recovery time. Common injuries we treat include shoulder and rotator cuff injuries, knee pain, tendonitis of the elbow (golf or tennis elbow), hamstring and quad strains, and plantar fasciitis.

Our extensive training and certification in Sports Medicine Acupuncture® (SMA), combined with Darren Maynard’s own experience with acupuncture as an athlete, sets the Maynard clinic apart from other practitioners. The frustration he felt when sidelined with injury, and the relief and results he found in acupuncture, drove him complete a comprehensive, innovative training with primary goals of returning patients to their desired activity, enhancing performance, and preventing reinjury. He aggressively integrates treatment with the athletic lifestyle many of his clients embrace.

More about Sports Medicine Acupuncture®

SMA utilizes a combination of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Western sports and orthopedic medicine diagnostic techniques in order to determine an accurate and comprehensive diagnosis for the patient and their injury. A wide range of assessment techniques include orthopedic special tests, postural assessment, manual muscle testing, and specialized palpation to identify injured tissue. The information gained from a sports medicine diagnosis is combined with a TCM differential diagnosis, providing an Eastern medical perspective on the injury, the overall health status of the athlete, and their ability to heal. This sets a foundation for an individualized plan treating the athlete as a whole for unparalleled results.

A certified Sports Medicine Acupuncture® practitioner will blend a number of treatment techniques together in a precisely targeted and comprehensive treatment plan.

Techniques used in Sports Medicine Acupuncture® include:

Acupuncture
Dry needling
Moxibustion
Cupping
Myofascial release techniques
Chinese herbal medicine
Neuromuscular stretching
Kinesiotaping
Acupressure

All of our treatment plans share one common philosophy: Acupuncture benefits for athletes include restoring the proper function of joints, soft tissue, muscles and the nervous system, returning the body to a homeostatic state which improves performance.