REVIEW article
Front. Physiol.
Sec. Integrative Physiology
Research Progress on the Application of Wrist-Ankle Acupuncture Combined with Rehabilitation Therapy in the Prevention and Treatment of Training Injuries
Provisionally accepted
Yanyan Sun1
Tianxing Xu2*- 1Beijing Medical District Zhongguancun outpatient Department, PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100081, China, Beijing, China
- 2The ninth Department of health care of the Second Medical Center, PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100081, China, Beijing, China
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Training injuries remain a significant concern for athletes, often resulting in persistent pain and impaired performance. Integrating wrist-ankle acupuncture (WAA), a minimally invasive Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) technique, with evidence-based Western rehabilitation offers a promising multimodal approach to managing and preventing such injuries. This review summarizes current research on the combined use of WAA and rehabilitation strategies, focusing on pain modulation, neuromuscular recovery, and injury prevention. WAA's neurochemical and circulatory benefits complement rehabilitation's role in promoting muscle adaptation, joint stability, and tissue repair. Collectively, findings suggest that this integrative approach may enhance pain relief and accelerate recovery, though further controlled trials are needed to confirm long-term efficacy and physiological mechanisms.
Keywords: Wrist-ankle acupuncture (WAA), Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), Western rehabilitation, Athleticinjuries, Pain Management
Received: 03 Dec 2025; Accepted: 08 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Sun and Xu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Tianxing Xu
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