SPORTS ACUPUNCTURE

Athlete Focused Techniques

Motor point therapy

A modern form of orthopedic/sports medicine acupuncture, it's most often combined with Tuina and Chinese-style acupuncture to release restricted muscles and decrease pain.

A motor point is a precise location where the motor nerve enters the muscle. To generalize, when injury occurs muscles contract as a protective mechanism; when left in this state (e.g. chronic injury) the body attempts to adapt to this new ‘normal’. This limits muscle function and disrupts the associated muscles too. Stimulating the motor point causes the muscle to twitch, resetting it to the normal (neutral) resting state. Typically, several treatments are needed to restore proper muscle function.

​

Interestingly, many motor points are also acupuncture points; this is a bonus! Stimulation can release the local muscle, open the meridian pathway and promote the functions of the acupuncture point.

A common misconception is that motor points and trigger points are the same; not true! Trigger points are tender points in the muscle (those “knots” you feel). Although they are tender and usually refer pain to other parts of the body, they are not related to the nerves within the muscles.