The Effectiveness of Homeopathic Therapeutics in Sports Induced Injuries

Thesis Paper

Ontario College of Homeopathic Medicine

By: Bryce Wylde and John vanDyk

Courtesy : Bryce Wylde

Sports medicine is a branch of medicine that specializes in the prevention and treatment of injuries that result from physical training and participating in athletic events. Homeopathy is a branch of medicine that specializes in the prevention and treatment of a vast majority of disease and can include within its scope the treatment of injuries that commonly result from athletic participation. Homeopathy can be effective in treating common sports injuries as well as chronic diseases. It more specifically involves treating the vital life force, which provides resiliency, flexibility and ability to adapt to circumstances that we experience in daily life when under stress. In the case of sports injuries, conventional treatment modalities should also be considered as an adjunct to homeopathy.

Homeopathy should be the initial consideration for sports injuries, as homeopathics are non-toxic and do not have the dangerous side effects that are common with conventional medicine. Homeopathic remedies do not interact with other drugs, are non addictive, and will not affect drug tests that some athletes are required to perform. With the use of homeopathy, healing time can be cut by 50-85 % (American Homeopathy, June 1984). A well prescribed homeopathic remedy can help the body eliminate lactic acid and other toxins that build up during physical exertion and increase the oxygen supply in blood, improving stamina and recovery time. Because treatment of sports injuries is a first aid type treatment we can propose that there is not the same need for the level of individualization found in the treatment of chronic conditions. As in treating first aid conditions, many sports injuries result in very similar symptoms in individual sufferers, so theoretically a single remedy should be equally effective for any person suffering that particular sports injury. But whether the common homeopathic medicines that are well known for specific complaints of sports induced injury should in fact be considered primary and best indicated- even when implementing classical methodology- is an argument of this paper.

When prescribing acutely, it is important to get a remedy that matches the symptoms as closely as possible because it is important that a medicine is found which acts as quickly as possible. In regards to the latter, it is important to note that lower potencies should be used. For more severe pain you may go as high as 30CH. The more your remedy matches the symptoms, the higher you can go with the potency, even if the pain is not so severe. With a well-matched remedy at a high potency, you can expect to see results within the first few hours for most injuries. When initially giving a remedy for an injury, the remedy can be given every hour, or even more regularly, depending on the severity of the pain, and the frequency of repetition can be decreased as the pain decreases to a frequency of one dose every four hours.

Most sports injuries are due either to muscle strains and sprains from overuse or too much effort, injuries to the joints, and tears- all of which frequently result from not doing enough “warm-up” exercises. Among some of the most common sports injuries are runner’s knee, pulled hamstring muscles, Achilles’ tendonitis, ankle strain and sprain, and inflammation of joint connective tissue (bursitis) to name only a few. (Johnson, 1998)

The homeopathic treatment of any individual patient should be carried through using the defined classical homeopathic methods described in the Organon. That is the prescription should always be- based on homeopathic convention- that remedy which best fits the case by holistic symptom analysis whilst remaining unbiased of the “common” or most often prescribed homeopathic medicines and those symptoms recognized solely by physical indication. But it follows that in an acute situation and without any major differentiating or strikingly unusual symptoms, any athlete with a sprained ankle will likely be given that remedy which was prescribed for any other athlete with the same chief complaint. It is without a doubt that classical homeopathy can be effective in the acute relief or chronic recovery of any sports induced injury.

It is therefore the goal of this paper to define sports related injury in relation to classical homeopathy; to investigate anatomical predispositions for sports injury; to define conventional treatment plans; to study the efficacy of homeopathy in the treatment of those patients having suffered from acute or chronic sports induced injury; and finally to decipher whether the common homeopathic medicines that are well known for specific complaints of sports induced injury should in fact be considered primary and best indicated even when implementing classical homeopathic methodology.

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