Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine for the Bodybuilder
Reprinted with permission from the published article “Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine for the Bodybuilder” by Tony Burris, L.Ac.
An ergogenic aid is defined as a method, apart from training, that improves athletic performance. Because acupuncture has long been able to remedy many acute and chronic health problems, interest in acupuncture as an enhancement to performance has led to clinical studies and empirical observation. An article in the Journal of Strength & Conditioning stated that more studies were needed, but that acupuncture possessed some interesting possibilities for the strength athlete.
Recent findings show that acupuncture does indeed help to build and preserve muscle mass. New research reveals that both acupuncture and electro-acupuncture prevent muscle atrophy. A Japanese study measured that acupuncture “recovered the skeletal muscle mass” and “ameliorated skeletal muscle atrophy by reducing mRNA expressions of the E3 ubiquitin ligases atrogin-1 and MuRF1.” Acupuncture also “increased the mRNA expressions of Akt1 and TRPV4.” As a result, the researchers note that the ability of acupuncture to prevent muscle degradation may “be due to an increase in protein synthesis and a decrease in protein degradation.”
How does acupuncture increase protein synthesis? That answer may be linked to another study using electro-acupuncture on rats in Belgium. That study determined that acupuncture increases local ATP production by as much as 400%. The average ATP molecule is consumed within one minute after its formation. Fortunately, the body does have a vast capacity to store ATP. Increasing ATP means the body has a greater capacity to build proteins, thus improving muscle growth and quality.
A single protein may be composed of many thousands of amino acids and it takes the breakdown of four phosphate bonds to link two amino acids together. Increasing ATP means the body has a greater capacity to build proteins, thus improving muscle growth and quality.
Also, amino acids enter body cells by “active transport”, the process of getting molecules across the cell membrane. Active transport is also brought about by the energy release of ATP.
When ATP is replenished in tissues, the membrane active transport is increased, thus allowing the intracellular flow of nutrients and the extracellular flow of waste materials. This means increased muscle energy, growth and repair.
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