I wish I would have given in long time ago when my fellow teammates, friends, coworkers suggested I give acupuncture a try; many of them were regulars. I was more into the physical therapy/manual therapy due to my background. For those that don’t know, I put the “icing on the cake” on my shoulder during the snatch ladder of The Fittest Games this past January. I was still able to compete, but I was far from pain free. Sam from Next Level treated me on site as well as 1x/wk for at least 5 weeks following. I told/begged him to get me through The Open with  my arm still attached (“attached” is a very dramatic  word, I just meant nothing ripped). He did that. I was still far from pain free during The Open, but I was able to compete. Even with the exercise Sam and Ryan were giving me as well as the tips I was picking up on talking to fellow athletes with similar problems, I wasn’t getting better. I wasn’t getting worse, but I wasn’t getting better. I was struggling to receive a snatch, bench press, take off my shirt/sports bra with out sharp pain, sleep at night. I was never without pain. This wasn’t me. I have NEVER been injured before in my life, and the worst part of this was I’m not sure how it happened, I just know the icing on the cake was the snatch ladder.

Having that games mindset, I pushed through the pain. If you ignore it, it will go away right? Wrong. Out of desperation, I opened up to acupuncture. A few of my teammates that I trust have gone this route as well. At this point I was open to ANYTHING. I made an appointment with a lady who is an athlete in our community who also treats many in our community. I walked into her studio/office filled out the normal paperwork. She greeted me and brought me back. Being new to this environment and method of course I had a zillion of questions. I laid on my backside on the (warm) table and after looking at my tongue and checking my pulse she went to work. She put needles in my hands, arms, behind my knee, my feet, my ears, my forehead and even on top of my head. No shocker, but I was asking lots of “why” questions. Sometimes the needles hurt, sometimes I didn’t even feel them! Before I knew it she was taking some needles out and flipped me over. She left the needles in my ears and top of head. She then put needles in my back. I started to feel some tightness here, it was interesting. She let me lay there (face down) for awhile and OMG was it AWESOME! I was asleep but really aware of what was going on…weird! I would doze off but not completely. When she returned she removed all the needles and started doing “cupping” on my back, mainly on my hurt shoulder. This method brought blood to the area to allow for quicker healing. I was done after that! Before I left I booked 2 more appointments. I walked out of there feeling a little dazed, but in a good way. That night I slept better than I ever had, I wasn’t woken up by my shoulder either! AMAZING! However, the real test was going to be my training session that day. It was a perfect day to test my shoulder…Snatch, Overhead squats and Muscle Ups, game on! Crazy enough, my shoulder did fantastic! I couldn’t believe it! I was also at a pain level of 3 when normally it was closer to a 7 pushing 8! I couldn’t believe it! After 1 treatment this happened! I was pumped for my 2nd session!

Yesterday I went in for my 2nd session/treatment! I told her, whatever she did to me last time to do it again because it was awesome and worked! She laughed! She did roughly the same thing at the beginning with the needles…well the same thing in my mind. Then she hooked these little clamps on 2 of the needles on my right arm. This was e stem, another form of treatment. The electrodes caused contractions in my shoulder…kinda like your eye twitching. No pain, just twitching. One of them was just a twitching which impressed her because she couldn’t believe how “open the channel” was. She informed me that it was because I’m healthy. She left me with the other electrode on for a few minutes. Like last time, I dozed off in a peaceful manner. When she came back in she removed the electrodes and put me face down on the bed. From there she  did more needling in my back. When that was over, she did a little massage to loosen up my posterior chain. And like last time, I walked out of there feeling like a million bucks! I couldn’t believe it! I’m looking forward to my 3rd appointment on Monday just in time for regionals on Friday!

If you have not opened up to the possibility of acupuncture, I HIGHLY suggest you get this method a try. I couldn’t believe the improvement that my shoulder had done and the amount it decreased my pain level. I was just blown away!  Acupuncture is used to treat a variety of things, and not just injuries. I’m a huge fan! If you live in ATX or travel here, I would recommend you make an appointment with Rachelle, it will change your life!

Rachelle Webb

(512) 586-1209

Rachelle Webb