A downside with playing sports or engaging in other physical activities can be the occasional injury, whether it’s spraining your ankle while out hiking, separating your shoulder making that diving catch, or finally getting out and playing that round of golf only to feel pain in your sprained lower back the next day.

Fortunately, the Eastern medical approach can be very useful in the treatment of these kinds of injuries and pain, allowing us to recover faster and get back to our activities.

In order to better follow this approach, it’s useful to understand how Traditional Chinese Medicine views health and injury in terms of the acupuncture meridian system.

Because much of ancient China was an agricultural society, many of the concepts pertaining to this meridian system were traditionally described as being like a network of irrigation channels providing water and nutrients to the surrounding farmland.

In a similar way, the acupuncture meridians of the body can be thought of as an interconnected system of pathways bringing energy, blood, and nourishment to every area of the body, both internally to the organs and externally to the bones, tendons, muscles, connective tissue, and skin.

With injuries such as sprains, strains, fractures, or other similar trauma, these meridians can also get damaged, with their flow becoming impeded.

In Eastern medicine, physical traumatic injuries can usually be classified under the 2 general categories know as “Energy Stagnation” and “Blood Stasis“, although in real life, most injuries tend to have aspects of both.

Energy Stagnation refers to when the flow of energy through a meridian pathway becomes disturbed, similar to a river of water coming to a turbulent stretch of whitewater rapids. A common example of this would be when perhaps starting a new type of sports activity or exercise routine and then feeling sore and achy the next day. Pain of this type is usually a more generalized feeling and tends to move around. It typically responds well to some gentle stretching and movements to help encourage the flow of energy through the affected areas.

On the other hand, Blood Stasis is a more severe blockage of the meridians affecting the blood circulation in the local and surrounding regions, much like a river of water becoming dammed up and blocked. A common example of this would be spraining a joint or breaking a bone, where the pain is more focused into a fixed location. Swelling and bruising often occurs, and the pain is usually much more intense. In fact, Blood Stasis pain, in its most severe form, is classically described as feeling like being stabbed with a red-hot knife.

As mentioned, most injuries tend to involve blockages of both energy and blood, so treatment usually focuses on reducing inflammation and improving the circulation in the affected area, thereby allowing the body’s natural healing process to occur more efficiently.

Tips for healing and recovering from sports injuries

1. Heat or Cold? – Although using ice, especially in the first 24 – 48 hours of an injury, can be useful for dealing with the initial pain and swelling, in the Eastern medicine view it’s regarded as actually slowing down the long-term healing process. Muscles, tendons, and bones all rely on good energy and blood circulation to be healthy, and this is even more important when recovering from an injury. The Eastern approach is to use Heat for most types of injuries, and the treatment of choice is Moxibustion, a form of heat therapy using the leaf of the Mugwort plant. The heat from the burning Moxa, along with certain chemicals in the herb that get absorbed into the affected area, is useful in reducing pain and inflammation as well as promoting the healing process.
2. Rub it in – Traditional Oriental Medicine has a long history of using herbs, not just internally, but topically as well, especially when dealing with external traumatic injuries. Various herbal formulas, usually oil or alcohol based, applied several times a day to the site of the injury, can be quite helpful in reducing pain and swelling while also promoting circulation to the affected area.