Acupuncture Can Enhance Performance
January 5, 2021
Henry Ford Health System
In the ancient Chinese medicine of acupuncture, thin needles are gently inserted into specific areas of the body, stimulating blood flow to speed the recovery of certain ailments.
It can be used as a treatment for everything from headaches and unbalanced hormones to joint pain and weakened immune systems. Acupuncture is also popular among athletes, as many of them incorporate it into their wellness regimens to stay in peak physical condition.
“Back in the day, athletes ate steak, smoked cigars and drank whiskey during the week and then played football on Sunday,” says Thomas Betts, a sports medicine acupuncturist with Henry Ford Health System. “But today, to improve their performance, athletes are attacking the body from every angle possible with diet, lifestyle and exercise. NBA players, for example, have talked about how acupuncture keeps them feeling their best.”
But you don’t have to be an NBA star to reap the benefits of acupuncture. Whether you’re a professional or student athlete, or you exercise and play sports for fun or to challenge yourself, here are ways acupuncture can boost your game:
- Acupuncture can help you recover more quickly from an injury. “If a muscle is torn, acupuncture won’t put it back together, but for sprains and strains, muscle soreness and tendonitis, acupuncture can decrease inflammation and speed the healing process,” says Betts.
- Acupuncture can reduce the need for “rest days.” If you just had an intense workout and your muscles are sore, getting acupuncture afterward can loosen the muscles and decrease soreness so you don’t have to take a day off to recuperate before training again.
- Acupuncture can improve flexibility, decrease muscle tension and increase muscle activation. “This is done with motor point acupuncture,” says Betts. “The motor point is where the brain attaches to the muscle via the motor nerve. By using needles to stimulate a motor point, it is like rebooting a phone or computer that isn’t working well: Motor point acupuncture is autoregulating, in that it can deactivate a tight muscle or reactivate an inhibited or weak muscle.”
- Acupuncture can provide immediate pain relief. “Some studies show that acupuncture can provide as much as, if not more pain relief than medication,” Betts says. “It differs for everyone, and it depends on what is being treated, but some people say they feel a difference right after a session, and others say they feel better about 20 to 30 minutes later.” Pain relief can last from a few hours to a few days.
- Acupuncture can help prevent injury. Because acupuncture can reactivate weak muscles and decrease muscle tension, it can also be used as a preventative measure against injury, Betts says. But you should always still stretch before and after exercising!
Learn more about acupuncture and other integrative medicine services at Henry Ford. To make an appointment, you can request one online or by calling 1-833-246-4347.
Thomas Betts, DOAM, RAc, is a certified sports acupuncturist with Henry Ford Health System. He sees patients at the Henry Ford Center for Athletic Medicine in Detroit.
Century of School Sports: MHSAA Tickets Continue to Provide Fan-Friendly Value
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
February 19, 2025
A buck went a lot farther a century ago, and a family of four wishing to watch the MHSAA Class A Boys Basketball Final in 1928 could have done so, at the minimum, for a grand total of $2 – or $6 if they were looking to splurge on the best seats.
Of course, relating the value of money 100 years ago to now is not apples to apples. But for Michigan school sports, a deal like that is meant to last forever.
The MHSAA has made it part of long-standing philosophy to keep ticket prices for its tournament events as low as possible, continuing to provide opportunities for entire families to attend together, and hoping to provide the best bargain as tickets to sporting events at other levels have climbed much more rapidly over the decades.
For the sake of comparison, consider tickets over the years for the Boys Basketball Tournament – the first event hosted by the newly-created MHSAA in 1925.
In 1928 (the first year for which cost of admission could be found), ticket prices for the MHSAA Boys Basketball Finals at the Olympia in Detroit were listed at 75 cents, $1 and $1.50, and a newspaper report after noted that in fact the cheapest seats were sold for 50 cents apiece instead. One ticket was good for all four games.
Less than 30 years later, $1.50 still got a fan two championship games – reserved seats for 1955 Boys Basketball Finals at Jenison Field House cost $1.50 per session, with Class C and B Finals in the afternoon and Class A and D in the evening. A decade after that, in 1965, tickets still cost $1.50 per session – although sessions were now split into the Class B game in the morning, Class D and C games in the afternoon, and a Class A session that night.
Sixty years later, prices have continued to rise incrementally – but again, while prioritizing keeping them as low as possible.
These days for boys basketball, District tickets cost $7, Regional tickets cost $9, Quarterfinals cost $10, and Semifinals and Finals tickets cost $12 per two-game session.
On its face, that’s quite a jump from the 1960s, much less the 1920s. But consider: Multiple inflation calculators say that $1.50 ticket for two games in 1955 would be worth more than $17 for two games now, meaning MHSAA Finals ticket prices have grown at a much slower rate.
Consider as well MHSAA ticket prices against Consumer Price Index data over the last 20 years. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in 2023 that admission costs to sporting events nationally had doubled over the previous two decades – literally going up 100 percent – yet price increases for the MHSAA Boys Basketball Tournament since 2005-06 have increased just 40 percent at the District level, where 60 percent of our boys basketball tickets are sold. Ticket prices for Regionals and Finals also have grown slower than that national rate.
And it remains tough to argue with what spectators get for their money at the MHSAA Tournament level.
For the 2024-25 school year, tickets for all District and Regional competitions – and some Quarterfinals and Semifinals – remain in the $7-$9 range. Finals tickets cost $10-$12, except for Individual Wrestling Finals ($18) and 11-Player Football Finals ($20) both at Ford Field – and one ticket for those is good to watch championships in five divisions in wrestling and four football championship games over one day, respectively.
In fact, the most recent change to ticketing has had nothing to do with the price – but instead, the move away from the paper tickets you see above. All tournament tickets are now digital, which keeps the MHSAA current with what’s done in college and pro sports and other forms of entertainment and assists in efficiency by taking cash out of the equation.
Previous "Century of School Sports" Spotlights
Feb. 11: We Recognize Those Who Make Our Games Go - Read
Feb. 4: WISL Conference Continues to Inspire Aspiring Leaders - Read
Jan. 28: Michigan's National Impact Begins at NFHS' Start - Read
Jan. 21: Awards Celebrate Well-Rounded Educational Experience - Read
Jan. 14: Predecessors Laid Foundation for MHSAA's Formation - Read
Jan. 9: MHSAA Blazes Trail Into Cyberspace - Read
Dec. 31: State's Storytellers Share Winter Memories - Read
Dec. 17: MHSAA Over Time - Read
Dec. 10: On This Day, December 13, We Will Celebrate - Read
Dec. 3: MHSAA Work Guided by Representative Council - Read
Nov. 26: Finals Provide Future Pros Early Ford Field Glory - Read
Nov. 19: Connection at Heart of Coaches Advancement Program - Read
Nov. 12: Good Sports are Winners Then, Now & Always - Read
Nov. 5: MHSAA's Home Sweet Home - Read
Oct. 29: MHSAA Summits Draw Thousands to Promote Sportsmanship - Read
Oct. 23: Cross Country Finals Among MHSAA's Longest Running - Read
Oct. 15: State's Storytellers Share Fall Memories - Read
Oct. 8: Guided by 4 S's of Educational Athletics - Read
Oct. 1: Michigan Sends 10 to National Hall of Fame - Read
Sept. 25: MHSAA Record Books Filled with 1000s of Achievements - Read
Sept. 18: Why Does the MHSAA Have These Rules? - Read
Sept. 10: Special Medals, Patches to Commemorate Special Year - Read
Sept. 4: Fall to Finish with 50th Football Championships - Read
Aug. 28: Let the Celebration Begin - Read