The Acupuncture Outsider Podcast
Dr. Richard Hazel is a distinguished Doctor of Acupuncture and a New York State Licensed Acupuncturist, renowned for his expertise in Functional Acupuncture, with a specialized focus on Orthopedic & Sports Acupuncture. With a passion for optimizing athletic performance and facilitating recovery, Dr. Hazel proudly partners as the acupuncturist for UB Athletics, working with their football, volleyball, and other dedicated athletes. A Leader in Integrative Sports Medicine Dr. Hazel's approach integrates advanced acupuncture techniques with a deep understanding of human physiology and athletic demands. His commitment to enhancing recovery, regeneration, and adaptation to exercise stress is evident in his significant contributions to the field. He is a co-author of Chapter 22, "Acupuncture: Its relationship to Recovery, Regeneration and Function," in the authoritative book Fundamentals of Recovery, Regeneration, and Adaptation to Exercise Stress: An Integrated Approach (Springer Nature). This publication solidifies his position as a thought leader in the application of acupuncture for athletic populations. Pioneering Education and Global Influence A graduate with honors from the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine – New York, where he earned both his Master of Science in Acupuncture (Orthopedic & Sports Medicine) and his Doctor of Acupuncture, Dr. Hazel is a dedicated educator. He has developed and taught extensive curricula in Motor Point Acupuncture and Trigger Point Needling, sharing his knowledge through online courses on Podia and at prestigious international seminars. His teaching engagements span across Europe and Australia, including the European Sports and Orthopedic Acupuncture Congresses in Barcelona and Amsterdam, and workshops in Poland, Canada, Ireland, and France. His work has significantly influenced practitioners globally, establishing him as a world-renowned authority in Functional Acupuncture. Dedicated to Athlete Well-being Through his partnership with UB Athletics since 2024, Dr. Hazel provides cutting-edge acupuncture treatments to help athletes achieve peak performance, accelerate injury recovery, and maintain optimal physical well-being. His hands-on experience with collegiate athletes underscores his practical application of advanced acupuncture principles in a high-performance sports environment.
Episodes
These are muscles you need to stay on top of even if they don't test weak yet. This is how we keep people from having hip issues in the future and they are muscles we need to treat when they do have hip pain. You'll see this dysfunction even after a hip replacement surgery. You can change the joint (hardware) but if the software (muscles) is still faulty, there will be pain.
Online Courses: https://richardhazel.podia.com
We test the rotator cuff muscles for their internal/external rotation and abduction strength but they have a very important Always-On function too.
Just like the scapular stabilizers, the rotator cuff needs to dynamically stabilize so that other muscles like the deltoids and pectoralis muscles can have power.
Online Courses: https://richardhazel.podia.com
We are in the last days of the Black Friday double discount sale.
Take 2...
Light sensitivity, watering eyes, ptosis, sinus pain, facial pain and migraine are all symptoms that can come from neck muscles via the TCC (Trigeminocervical Complex)
Online Courses: https://richardhazel.podia.com
Black Friday Discount ends at the end of the year.
BLACKFRIDAY20 for 20% all courses and bundles of courses.
Most acupuncturists can treat pain. But the pain comes back.
We need to stop obsessing about disc bulges and MRIs and start looking at the actual mechanical problem that is leading to pain.
Fix what's tight then strengthen what's inhibited and then retrain the movement pattern.
Janda already did the hard work and most are just ignoring it and treating the site of pain.
Online Courses: https://richardhazel.podia.com
BLACKFRIDAY2...
Most people over 50 have disc bulges and degeneration and are not in pain.
30% of people in their 20s have disc bulges and are not in pain.
Janda would say that the disc is being injured by postural issues due to muscle imbalances and also because of dysfunctional movement patterns caused by those Upper and Lower Crossed Syndromes.
Treating a disc bulge only gives temporary relief. The underlying sheering force caused by a short t...
Sometimes Dry Needling is the best and fastest way to get full function back and to relieve pain. On these two college football players the electric stimulation acupuncture was barely touching their pain. Dry Needling give me instant and satisfying results.
Don't Forget, I'm running a 20% Discount on all Courses and Bundles of Courses (already discounted at 20%) until the end of the year.
Use the Code BLACKFRIDAY20 at checkout ...
I'm not diagnosing or treating anything and I'm not telling anyone what they should do or what they should tell their patients to do.
I'm sharing the research so that people can talk to their doctors about possible ways to reverse sarcopenia and fibrotic muscle and regain healthy fast-twitch muscle.
Online Courses: https://richardhazel.podia.com
Black Friday discount on all courses
BLACKFRIDAY20 at checkout for 20% off course...
This was a little mind-blowing to see this week. I was treating someone who had a stroke 20 years ago and then this happened!
HINT: There was a musculocutaneous nerve entrapment I wasn't expecting to see.
Online Courses: https://richardhazel.podia.com
The 0-5 scale on Manual Muscle Tests was created in 1915 to find neuromuscular issues in paretic patients (like people with polio).
The MMT should not be trusted for Sports Optimization and Injury Prevention in Athletes.
Here's what the research says. (Pro tip: The MMT is more of a test of the strength of the examiner, than of the athlete)
Online Courses (that never expire) https://richardhazel.podia.com
I rarely see pain above the knee on my average patients, but I see it very often on athletes, especially jumping sports.
Here's what I've found to work and what I think is the underlying cause.
Online Courses: https://richardhazel.podia.com
Part 2 of the Kinetic Chain is the shoulder elbow and wrist in the acceleration phase of pitching and the deceleration phase (where the injuries are more common)
Online Courses: https://richardhazel.podia.com
Ground Reaction Force (GRF)
Hip-To-Shoulder Separation (HTS)
The Anterior Oblique Sling
The Posterior Oblique Sling
Setting the groundwork for Part Two about Baseball Pitching
Online Course: https://richardhazel.podia.com
The Hip Internal and External Rotators are important for agility to rapidly change direction and have an important role to play in proprioception and to avoid knee injury.
Online Courses: https://richardhazel.podia.com
Courses Never Expire.
The Abductors and the Adductors of the Hip are essential for sports with lateral movement, cutting and changing direction with Power and Agility.
Optimizing the Lateral Stabilizers will also help to avoid knee and ankle injuries.
Online Courses: https://richardhazel.podia.com
Interesting case this week of bilateral foot pain and numbness on an American Football Player.
I walk through my thinking, my way to assess and confirm my assumptions and the results mid-way through and the adjustment I made to get to 100% pain-free.
Online Courses: https://richardhazel.podia.com
SEPT20 all month for 20% off all courses.
Part One of Three
How we can optimize Sports Performance by working on the Lumbopelvic Hip Complex in all Planes of Movement
Today it's about Triple Extension
Online Courses: https://richardhazel.podia.com
SEPT20 for 20% all Courses until the end of Sept 2025
Thank you to everyone who made our Barcelona Acupuncture Congress a success!
I give a brief recap of what I talked about.
Then a college Volleyball player had an injury of the interosseous muscles of the foot.
I'm running a 20% Discount for September SEPT20 at checkout for all courses.
My courses never expire!
https://richardhazel.podia.com
Most thumb pain can be fixed really quickly with electric stimulation acupuncture on the motor points of the thumb muscles. Here's what I do for thumb pain.
Online Courses: https://richardhazel.podia.com
I've been showing this to people in live seminars for years but I'm finally willing to say with certainty that this is repeatable and reliable for relieving the lower leg symptoms from sciatica.
Online Courses: https://richardhazel.podia.com
Until now, sports medicine has been highly influenced by the MDs who treat injury so we often follow suit as acupuncturists.
Functional Acupuncture is always looking at the whole picture. We can treat more than just the injury. We can look up the chain or into the past to find healthy muscles to optimize and improve sports performance and avoid injury.
Learn more about Functional Acupuncture with my Online Courses on Podia: http...
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