Workouts after acupuncture

Those of you who have had acupuncture / dry needling treatments. Did you find that you needed a “rest day” the day after a treatment?

I’ve been getting treatment on Saturday mornings for a few weeks. I take the rest of Saturday easy (hydrate, eat well, no workouts) but find that my Sunday TR workout is way more difficult than I think it should be.

e.g. I was unable to complete my 2nd interval in Hunter yesterday even though I didn’t feel any soreness or heavy legs when I first got on the trainer.

I’ve experienced this for 3-4 weeks now. The obvious thing to do is arrange my schedule so that I have a rest day after treatment. I guess I’m more curious if anyone else has experienced something similar.

Thanks for input.

I don’t have experience with acupuncture, so I’m mostly commenting to get your thread back to the top and see if anyone else can weigh in.

However, when you couldn’t complete the second interval in your workout yesterday, what were you feeling? Leg fatigue or general/aerobic fatigue? You said your legs didn’t feel sore or heavy when you got on the trainer, but it sounds like they started complaining during that second 20 minute interval. Just to clarify, you’re getting dry needling treatments on your legs, right?

I think you’re right to restructure your training schedule to allow a rest day after your treatment, or perhaps just an easier/shorter workout. At 2 hours and with the length of the intervals within it, Hunter is a tough workout to complete even on a good day. Switching some workouts around might help you stick to your training plan effectively while receiving treatment.

I’ve never had acupuncture but do get regular deep tissue massages (recovering from a ruptured Achilles and muscle atrophy). My RMT has always recommended post massage that I do no exercise. Maybe some walking (the dog) and light stretching and drink a TON of water. There’s a lot of blood movement after deep tissue massage and probably acupuncture and this needs to be ‘flushed’.

The following day I’m always more sore than the day of the massage so I just do an easy recovery ride for 45 mins or so (40-50% FTP)… This helps me a lot. And I move the planned training sessions around the massage dates adding in those recovery rides too in TRCal (TR you can use that name if you want :slight_smile: ) .

(PS. can’t wait for TRCal to be integrated into my Google calendar alongside my RMT’s calendar).

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Moderate rest day after dry needling puts a bit more pressure on body.

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I found no need for rest after acupuncture. I typical would ride most times the next day but did do some rides later the same day. Now dry needling just makes a mess of me for 3-4 days.

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Hey Thanks Larry.

So I’m getting a general treatment to deal with stress + life. On top of it I’m getting an extra 20-30 needles put in the left side of my back (rhomboids, lats, serratus, etc) and a little bit of dry needling done in my left hamstring (I tore it a few years ago).

I’m experiencing something similar to trying to do a hard workout after a ramp test – my muscles just won’t do it.

I’ll check with the acupuncturist once I get back into the country. I gotta say that the treatment I’m getting is definitely working on my back. I just spend 14 hours on a plane from LAX > HKG. Usually I’d feel like my body was being assaulted by hot fire pokers. This time around I’m just a little stiff. What an effin blessing!

I’m glad to hear the treatment is working and helping your back! I could definitely use some since my back is similarly sensitive to sustained positions and pain flares up pretty quickly. Best of luck with your training and I’m sure you’ll find a way to make it all work together! :smile: