Use of Acupuncture for the Treatment of Sports-Related Injuries in Athletes: A Systematic Review of Case Reports

This systematic review analyzed 22 case reports published between 1980 and 2019, involving 211 athletes from various sports disciplines who used acupuncture to treat sports-related injuries. The study was conducted by researchers from South Korea and represents the first comprehensive analysis of clinical cases of acupuncture in sports medicine. The methodology included searches of databases such as Embase and MEDLINE, with rigorous inclusion criteria focused on case reports that used acupuncture as the primary or adjuvant intervention. Participants ranged from 8 to 77 years of age, with 56.4% male, practicing disciplines such as basketball, running, skiing, volleyball, soccer, and others.

Musculoskeletal injuries represented 46.4% of cases, predominantly involving knee problems (medial collateral ligament injury, jumper's knee, lateral meniscus injury), elbows (lateral and medial epicondylitis), and shoulders (pain and rotator cuff injuries). Other treated conditions included chronic muscle pain syndrome, compartment syndrome, exertional rhabdomyolysis, synovial cysts, sports hernia, post-concussion symptoms, yips in golfers, and amenorrhea in runners. The types of acupuncture used varied widely: manual acupuncture (12 studies), electroacupuncture (4 studies), TENS at acupoints, laser acupuncture, catgut implantation, and dry needling. Most studies used acupuncture as adjuvant therapy, combined with physical therapy, medications, massage, or other conservative modalities.

Treatment duration ranged from a few days to 13 months, with a typical frequency of 1-2 sessions per week. Results showed that acupuncture was effective for short-term pain relief and functional recovery in various conditions. Twelve studies reported successful return to athletic activity, while only seven studies followed recurrences, with low rates reported. Adverse events were rare and minor, limited to local bleeding, pain, or numbness at the application site.

The case authors considered acupuncture a conservative, non-invasive, and useful modality for the management of sports injuries, especially when other conventional approaches showed limited results. Clinical implications suggest that acupuncture may be considered as part of a multimodal return-to-sport strategy, offering benefits beyond simple pain control. The technique appeared particularly promising for difficult-to-treat conditions such as yips in golfers, delayed-onset muscle soreness, and overuse injuries. However, the limitations are significant: the nature of case reports does not allow establishment of definitive causal relationships; many studies used acupuncture as a co-intervention, making specific attribution of effects difficult; the definition of "sports injury" and "athlete" varies across studies; and the heterogeneity of cases precludes quantitative meta-analysis.

Interestingly, most studies were conducted in the Americas and Europe, not in Asian countries where acupuncture is traditionally more widely used, suggesting growing Western acceptance of this therapeutic modality in sports medicine.