Pacific College of Oriental Medicine massage students got a chance to practice their skills, not only on real patients, but on serious athletes dealing with sport related injury .

Eighteen members of the San Diego and Palomar Triathlon Teams received complementary massage sports injury treatment from Pacific College of Oriental Medicine's Sports Tui Na class on Saturday, January 31. Massage is beneficial as a sports injury treatment and is a technique that has been used for hundreds of years.

Meiko Romo, a student in the class, helped organize the event. Until a year ago, Romo had been a member of the San Diego Triathlon Team, but quit to focus more on her studies at Pacific College of Oriental Medicine . She currently runs marathons and stays in touch with the members of the triathlon teams, so she sent out an e-mail request to see if any of the athletes would be interested in receiving free sports injury treatment from Pacific students of massage . San Diego athletes responded favorably.

"I thought the clinic would be a great idea because the class and I would have more chances to work on 'actual' athletes that may have injuries or need some good tonification work done on them," Romo said. "The athletes can train up to six or seven days a week, with a good three or four hours in some sessions."

According to Tracie Livermore, a holistic health practitioner and Pacific College of Oriental Medicine faculty member, the experience was well received by the athletes.

"Everyone that I worked on was happy when they left," Livermore said. "They seemed to really like the fact that they could tell me about their injury and I could directly address the problem in their first visit."

Romo agreed, saying, "I've had athletes e-mail me thanking me because of how rejuvenated they've felt from treatment from the students, or because their pain and achiness were much less after the treatment."

Romo knows firsthand how helpful Oriental medicine can be for sports injuries.

"Three years ago, I had a stress fracture in my left tibia from running and I didn't want to take pain medication for it," Romo said. "My fiancé's uncle, who is an acupuncturist in Arizona , recommended that I go see an acupuncturist. I couldn't believe how much less pain I was in, and I used no pain medication. I felt that I did recover quicker. I also went to treat my low back and knee achiness, and the acupuncture definitely benefited me in that; I don't have any knee achiness any longer. I have less low back pain and my stress fracture has not come back to haunt me."

According to Bill Helm, Chair of the Department of Body Therapy at Pacific College of Oriental Medicine and instructor of the Sports Tui Na class, the athletes weren't the only ones who enjoyed the clinic.

"The part I enjoy the most when working with athletes is the excitement of their realization of new ways their body works after treatment," Helm said.

Livermore, who assists Helm in the class, also enjoyed the clinic experience.

"I am fairly new to this type of work, and enjoyed seeing people with actual athletic injuries other than my family or regular clients who may not have athletic-related injuries," Livermore said.

Helm added that his least favorite aspect of working with athletes is watching them injure themselves again. Helm said that regular massage treatments would lessen the risk of sport related injury .

"Since athletes push themselves so hard in training, massage helps to relieve the stiffness and shortening of their muscles, which helps to prevent injuries and improves recovery time," Helm said.

Helm, whose students have worked with the Olympic training center and has seen a lot of sport related injury , said that the type of sports injury treatment also may vary, depending on whether the athletes have already participated in an event or not.

"Usually a pre-event treatment is a mild massage that stretches, activates and relaxes the individual," Helm said. "Afterward, the massage focuses upon injuries and restoration of circulation to the extremities."

Romo said that the athletes who came to the massage San Diego clinic had many different conditions that needed treatment.

"We had athletes that needed work on chronic low back and knee achiness; neck and shoulder stiffness from hovering for hours over their bike; leg achiness from a workout they had earlier in the day from running; injuries from years ago, like broken ribs or slipped discs; or just tired because of how much time they put into training," Romo said.

Livermore said that she would like to participate in massage clinics like this again in the future.

"At the clinic, I was able to see the immediate, positive effects of Tui Na alone," Livermore said. "It was good to be able to single out Tui Na and see how it works. This effect was made greater by the fact that everyone I saw had some kind of injury, and this helped improve my confidence in my Tui Na skills as well as Tui Na as a form of treatment. The only thing I didn't like about the clinic was that we don't do this more often."

Helm agreed that the massage San Diego clinic was beneficial for the students.

"The clinic gave the students the chance to work on non-students in a time-conscious situation where they have to consider treatment options and time management aspects of being a practitioner," Helm said. "Plus, it helps with their confidence."

Though the massage San Diego clinic is not a regular part of the Sports Tui Na class, Helm said that because of the advantages it brings to the learning environment, he would love to do a similar clinic for sport related injury in the future if the opportunity presents itself.