ACUPUNCTURE APPLICATIONS IN SPORTS MEDICINE PRACTICE
Özlem KARASİMAV, Yavuz YILDIZ
Gülhane Askeri Tıp Akademisi, Spor Hekimliği Anabilim Dalı, Ankara
Keywords: Acupuncture, sports, complementary medicine
Abstract
Acupuncture is regarded as one of the most popular complementary medical techniques nowadays; and can be used for pain control, injury healing and acceleration of recovery in athletes. If theories explaining the effect mechanisms of acupuncture, its probable risks and potential benefits are clearly presented; sports medicine specialists will be able to make recommendations about this therapy more easily. Acupuncture is evaluated as a quite reliable therapy method in case of being applied by experienced and well-trained hands. Studies on acupuncture have much increased in the western world over the last 30 years. This short review is about some studies presenting the effects of acupuncture, and on the limitations affecting the reliability of these studies.
