Jessica Kennedy - Acupuncture in London SE1

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Acupuncture for sports injuries

Getting back to fighting fitness

Acupuncture is well known for treating sports injuries and other musculo-skeletal problems, and they often respond really well. If your injury is new the area may be too inflamed and swollen for osteopathy or chiropractic, and acupuncture can be great at this point to relieve your pain, reduce your swelling and inflammation, and promote healing.

If your injury is more longstanding, and even if other therapies have not brought much improvement, acupuncture can often reduce or remove the pain or limitation of movement. Injuries which have been there for years can even respond well, with reduce aching or stiffness, as the treatment promotes the flow of blood and energy in the area.

Case studies

"I thought my knee problem would stop me running the marathon, but acupuncture got me there! My physio suggested acupuncture for the ITB syndrome in my knee, which was giving me sharp pain after only 20 minutes running, to the point where I couldn't run any further. The acupuncture treatments extended how long I could run, and after seven treatments I ran the marathon in 4.5 hours without even a twinge from my knee."

A doctor in her 20s

"A kicking injury kept me from my Tae Kwon Do for 7 months, with burning pain in my glutes, hamstrings and groin on the left side. Running made it worse too, so I couldn't exercise as much as I wanted to. It would flare up every time I did a good amount of exercise, then be sore for a week or two, and it just wasn't getting any better. I didn't feel as stable as before either, and sometimes walking was a bit difficult. Physio and osteopathy helped with some other stuff, but in the end it was electroacupuncture that's made a big difference to this one. After eight treatments my leg is sorted and I'm really pleased to be back to my Tae Kwon Do. I was impressed with the professional and caring service I received and wouldn't hesitate to recommend Jessica to friend and colleagues."

An IT professional in his 20s

"A friend recommended I try acupuncture to help me recover from a debilitating arm/shoulder injury caused by a parachute crash. Jessica's treatment has not only helped me recover fully from the injury but has also positively changed way I think and feel about myself and the world around me. I thoroughly recommend her to anyone, man or woman, looking to recover from injury or simply to re-engergise their Chi. You would never regret giving it a chance."

A company director in his 40s

"I'm not sure if you will remember me, but I came to you for treatment a few years ago for tendonitis in my Achilles. I only had to see you a few times and the results were amazing. I haven't had any problems with it since."

A finance professional in her 20s

click for more case studies

Research

A 2003 report by the World Health Organisation (WHO)(1) found that knee pain, sprains and tennis elbow are among the conditions "for which acupuncture has been proved - through controlled trials - to be an effective treatment".

Meanwhile a review(2) by the British Medical Journal described acupuncture as "very safe" when practiced by an appropriately-qualified practitioner.

The modern evidence base for acupuncture is incomplete, and this is true for a great many areas of conventional medicine too. The Clinical Evidence website of the British Medical Journal tells us that of the 2,500 conventional medical treatments their databases cover, 46% are of unknown effectiveness (as at October 2009)(3).

Jessica continues to witness the benefits of acupuncture for many people in her work, utilising the knowledge and practice of Chinese medicine built up over thousands of years. She's happy that more and more modern scientific research is being done into acupuncture, helping to bring it to a wider audience.

Contact Jessica

Each of us responds differently to acupuncture. Do get in touch to discuss whether acupuncture is likely to be right for you, or to make an appointment.

Other conditions

Acupuncture can help with a wide range of health problems, click below to find out more:

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Detailed references

(1) http://www.acupuncture-schools.us/national-institute-health-nih-acupuncture.cfm, referring to World Health Organisation (2002). Acupuncture: Review and Analysis of Reports on Controlled Clinical Trial, see http://apps.who.int/bookorders/anglais/detart1.jsp?sesslan=1&codlan=1&codcol=93&codcch=196

(2) Rampes (2001). The safety of acupuncture. British Medical Journal 2001;323(7311):467 (1 September), doi:10.1136/bmj.323.7311.467, see http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/323/7311/467

(3) From the 'About Us' area of the Clinical Evidence BMJ website, page titled 'How much do we know', http://clinicalevidence.bmj.com/ceweb/about/knowledge.jsp. Extract at Oct 2009: "So what can Clinical Evidence tell us about the state of our current knowledge? What proportion of commonly used treatments are supported by good evidence, what proportion should not be used or used only with caution, and how big are the gaps in our knowledge? Of around 2500 treatments covered 13% are rated as beneficial, 23% likely to be beneficial, 8% as trade off between benefits and harms, 6% unlikely to be beneficial, 4% likely to be ineffective or harmful, and 46%, the largest proportion, as unknown effectiveness"