[Objective]The purpose of this study was to examine factors of the motivation for receiving acupuncture therapy in athletes.
[Methods]Four-hundred and twenty-two university students majoring in physical education participated in the survey using quantifiable fears and knowledge of acupuncture therapy and attitudes about receiving acupuncture treatment.
[Results]They were divided in two ways;one whose members play team sports (team group) or individual sports (individual group), and one whose members play interpersonal sports (interpersonal group) or competitive athletics (competitive group). There were significant between-group differences, when comparing the interpersonal group and competitive group. In stepwise multiple regression analysis, fear of acupuncture therapy, knowledge of acupuncture therapy, family members experience with acupuncture therapy and interpersonal sports or competitive athletics were independently and significantly associated with the motivation for receiving therapy.
[Conclusion]It was shown that athlete's personality including the sport event type characteristics influenced the attitude about receiving acupuncture treatment.

We have developed a new educational program directed at young people who have never undergone acupuncture therapy. The objective of this program is to provide them with useful information related to acupuncture therapy. We examined whether this program had managed to motivate participants to receive therapy and whether or not it had caused a change in their attitude toward it. Forty-four young people participated in the program. We divided them into two main groups; one whose members knew someone close to them who had received acupuncture therapy, and one whose members did not, in consideration of the images that each might have of therapy. In addition, some members of these were selected at random of receive visual aids, making a total of four groups. In order to investigate the efficacy of the program with regard to each group, we compared the average of each evaluation at before and after the program. All groups showed an increase in scores in all criteria after the implementation of the program. These results indicate that the educational program used in this study was effective.

Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) is characterized by a sensation of discomfort that usually develops 24-48 hours after unaccustomed exercise, with muscle swelling and stiffness that usually results in a reduced range of movement. Muscle weakness is often seen. It may be surmised that DOMS is a problem that affects all athletes.
We examined six male subjects to determine the effect of acupuncture stimulation on DOMS, which was induced experimentally in both legs using a heel raising exercise. Acupuncture stimulation has long been used in the treatment of pain, but there is insufficient proof of its efficacy. A problem acupuncture research has had to face is the concept of a control group. To deal with this, we used non-invasive acupuncture stimulation, which would allow the simulation of the acupuncture procedure without penetrating the skin. The leg that would receive actual acupuncture stimulation and the leg that would receive non-invasive stimulation after the induction of DOMS were determined by randomization.
The muscle stiffness, ankle range of movement, maximal voluntary contraction, one-legged vertical jump, muscle tenderness, pain on muscle stretching, pain on muscle contraction, ankle mobility and subjective muscle strain were measured as indices of stimulation efficacy. Pain on muscle stretching was significantly less (p<0.05) at 48 hours after exercise for the side stimulated by acupuncture as compared with the side stimulated non-invasively. The other indices did not differ significantly between the side stimulated using acupuncture stimulation and the side stimulated non invasively. These results suggest that the early relief of DOMS can be achieved by acupuncture stimulation.

A double blind randomized control trial was performed to clarify the effects of acupuncture using a press needle on muscle pain, serum creatine kinase (CK) activity and muscle stiffness that resulted from running a marathon race. Sham press needles (placebo needles), which have the same package but without a needle tip, were developed by the acupuncture study authors. The subjects were 15 university students who participated in a marathon for the first time. Subjects were randomly assigned to two groups: the real acupuncture group and the placebo acupuncture group.
Both the real and the sham needles were applied to eight traditional Chinese acupoints in the lower limbs. They were applied before the start of the race and removed five days after the race.
Physical and biochemical examinations to determine the degree of muscle pain, CK activity, LDH isozyme, body flexion in standing position and muscle hardness were evaluated three times-before the start, after the finish, and five days after the finish.
Result: 1) The real acupuncture group showed less muscle pain than the placebo acupuncture group. 2) CK activity and LDH4-5 showed higher levels after the finish than before the start, but no significant difference was obtained among the groups. 3) No significant difference in time course change of the body flexion was obtained among the groups. 4) Hardness of vastus lateralis and vastus medialis showed higher levels after the finish than before the start, but no significant difference was obtained among the groups.