Effect of acupuncture and instruction on post-exercise recovery: A balanced-placebo controlled trial

Abstract

Introduction: In excess of 10 million sport-related injuries are sustained globally each year, and an important component of the athlete’s recovery is themanagement of their pain. However, many injuries occur on sports grounds that do not provide immediate access to qualified medical care resulting in increased morbidity for many athletes. Acupressure is an easily appliedmodality which has been effective in pain moderation in specific populations, but surprisingly not previously trialed in athletes. The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of acupressure for decreasing pain in athletes with an acute sports injury. Methods: A three arm, single blinded RCT was conducted at a sports injury clinic during the 2012 winter sports season. Athletes, who sustained a sport injury immediately prior to presentation at the clinic and consented to the study, were randomized to one of three treatment groups: true acupressure (applied at Hegu (LI4) located on the dorsum of the hand between the 1st and 2ndmetacarpal bones); placebo acupressure (at a non-acupressure point); and a non-treatment group (rest). All treatment and nontreatment periods were of 3min duration, delivered by the same trained therapist, blinded to baseline pain scores. Athletes provided their pain levels using a 100mmvisual analogue scale before and immediately after the treatment. Comparisonsbetweengroups wereperformedusingANOVAprocedures andpost-hoc analysis via the Westfall method. The a priori alpha level was set at p<0.05. Results: Seventy-nine acutely injured athletes (primarily ankle and shoulder) participated and completed the study. There were no baseline differences in pain between the three groups (p=0.91), with the mean pain score of 49±22mm. There was a statistically significant decrease (9.1mm) in pain following the intervention in the true acupressure group compared to non-treatment group (p<0.05), and 11.3mm difference between the true and placebo acupressure groups (p<0.001). There was no difference between placebo and non-treatment groups (p=0.44). Discussion: The results of this study indicate that acupressure may be effective for the treatment of acute sport-injury associated pain when compared to placebo and non-treatment. Acupressure represents a non-invasive, non-pharmaceutical technique which may be easily administered by sports medics, coaches and other potential first responders. Future research should explore the influence of acupressure duration, frequency, choice and number of points, on the magnitude of pain relief in acute sports injuries.