[Improved performance in endurance sports through acupuncture].

In many years of experience in treating athletes with acupuncture, I often had the impression that athletes in endurance sports showed improved performances after such treatments. In order to scientifically verify these impressions, I performed a field test with three groups of runners of different performance levels preparing for a marathon. The first group was given acupuncture, the second a placebo, with the third being the control group. After their maximum pulse rates were recorded, the runners were asked to run 5000m four times in 4 weeks at 75 % of their maximum pulse rate. Their pulse rates were measured for each runner at the finish of the run, and subsequently, one, two and five minutes after the run. Based on these data, the complexity factor (running time multiplied by the respective pulse rate) was calculated for all four recorded pulse rates for each run and each runner. All groups showed statistically significant enhancements in their running times and their complexity factors, but in the case of the runners treated with acupuncture, the improvements were highly significant. Therefore, the field test proves that acupuncture has a significant impact on the performance of the athletes in endurance sports.

© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.
PMID: 20845241