The squat was clean. Then the hip pain ran down the leg.
For women who train in the Portland metro, teens to masters. Lifters, runners, CrossFit, field sports. Squats, hinges, lunges, and single-leg work stop being clean. It returns when the load goes up.
First visit includes assessment and treatment the same day. Most new patients are seen within the week. Need an earlier opening? Call us.
Personalized treatment
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Doctorate-level training
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Same-day treatment on first visit
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Insurance verification available
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Personalized treatment | Doctorate-level training | Same-day treatment on first visit | Insurance verification available |
WHAT BRINGS ATHLETES IN
You rested it. The load brought it back.
It sits in the hip or buttock and can run into the thigh or down the leg. Women who train often call that sciatica. It shows up when squats, hinges, running, lunges, or single-leg work stop being clean, and it comes back when the load goes up. We treat the tissue that day. You leave knowing how hard to train this week.
01
Hip & Buttock Pain
Into the thigh when single-leg work stops being clean.
02
Back & SI Pain
Locks after heavy hinges, then into the hip or down the leg.
03
Runner's Knee
The knee that flares every time mileage climbs.
04
Ankle & Achilles
Stiff every morning, fine by the warm-up, worse after the session.
05
Shoulder Pain
Overhead work, kipping, and lunging that stopped feeling clean.
06
Plantar & Hamstring
Same strain point, same season, same early exit.
THE DIFFERENCE
Most sports medicine treats every week like week one.
Same protocol, any Monday, any athlete. But women who train do not have a static week. Sleep, pain, and recovery can shift across the cycle and across life stages. Ignore that, and the hamstring you treated in January is back in April. Sports science periodizes training, and only recently has it started asking what that means for women. Chinese medicine got there by a different road. Decades ago, Professor Xia Gui-Cheng of Nanjing built a phase-by-phase approach to the female cycle for fertility care, treating each phase on its own terms instead of treating every week the same. Dr. Wang trained in that lineage, and she brings it where it rarely goes: the sports room. Each phase gets its own plan for treatment, training, and recovery.
THE PHASE LOAD METHOD
HOW EVERY VISIT WORKS
Before treatment starts, three questions.
What is the tissue doing today?
Where are you in your training block?
Where are you in your cycle or life stage?
First visit: 60–80 minutes
Your first appointment includes the assessment and treatment. Follow-ups are shorter.
1. Assess
Training history, cycle history, orthopedic exam.
2. Treat
Needles first. Cupping or gua sha when the tissue needs it. Herbs only when needles will not cover it.
3. Plan the next few days
You leave knowing how hard to train this week.
MEET YOUR PRACTITIONER
Dr. Yuhsi Wang, DAOM, L.Ac.
Founder and clinical director. Sports and orthopedic acupuncture. Fluent in female physiology.
Most practitioners study athletes. Dr. Wang is one. She trained in China under two lineages that seldom meet in one practitioner. At Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, she studied gynecology under Professor Tan Yong, a direct disciple of Master Xia Gui-Cheng, whose cycle-phase medicine treats each phase of the month on its own terms. At Jiangsu Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine, she trained in orthopedic acupuncture under Dr. Chiu, Chief of the Acupuncture Department and son of Master Chiu Mao-Liang, chief editor of China's national acupuncture textbook. Together, those lineages cover what a woman who trains brings through the door: an injury and a body that changes across the month. The Phase Load Method is where they meet. She built it as an athlete, and she still trains: Strength, Epee fencing, and CrossFit.
“Your body moves through four phases every month. Your training should move with it."- Dr. Yuhsi Wang
B.S., Chinese Medicine, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine
M.S., Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, Texas Health and Science University
Doctor of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine, Five Branches University
PATIENT EXPERIENCES
Comebacks, In Their Own Words.
BEFORE YOU BOOK
Questions, answered.
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Women athletes who train often use sciatica for pain that starts in the hip or buttock and runs into the thigh or down the leg. Hip, glute, and low-back tissue can all refer that way, and they can show up on the same week. The first visit is an assessment, then treatment the same day, to see which tissue is irritable now. We do not name a disc or a labrum from the description alone.
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Both, in the right order. PT builds strength, and we recommend it. But when a muscle is guarding, the area is inflamed, or your nervous system is still on alert after an accident, strength work struggles to take hold. Acupuncture helps settle that first, so PT and your training have something to build on. It is all about timing.
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It includes it, and goes further. Needling the tight, tender spot in a muscle has been part of acupuncture since the 7th century, where it is called an ashi point. Dry needling usually stops there. We also treat points beyond the injury to settle muscle guarding and a stressed nervous system, and we time your care to your training and your hormones. The training behind it differs too. Dry needling certifications are often measured in dozens of hours. A licensed acupuncturist trains for thousands, and Dr. Wang's training includes a doctorate and hospital training in China.
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No. Bring it if you have it. Irregular cycles, hormonal birth control, perimenopause, and no periods at all still count.
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Yes. We treat women who train at every life stage, from teens to masters. Perimenopause, menopause, and the years after all change how the body recovers: sleep, joints, tendons, and muscle respond differently. Menopause is a phase too, and we plan for it. Your care is built around your training load and how your body responds now.
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Most new patients start with 12 visits over about three months. That is long enough to treat the tissue, hold the change while you keep training, and see what stays when the load goes back up. You already know this from training: one good week does not hold. Consistency does. You leave the first visit with that plan and an estimate. If the tissue settles sooner, the block gets shorter. If it has been there for years, three months is the start, not a promise that it is finished.
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Yes. Train first. Recover after. We plan it that way.
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No. If you train toward something (a race, a meet, a total, or staying strong later), you are in the right room.
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Yes. Teens to masters. For athletes under 18, call and we will walk you through consent and the first visit.
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We take United Healthcare, Regence Blue Cross Blue Shield and Moda.
OUR CREDENTIALS & AFFILIATIONS
Ready to get back to training?
Book your first visit or call the clinic if you need an earlier opening than the online schedule shows.
☎ (503) 560-3908
✉ info@hope-acupuncture.com
10225 SW Hall Blvd, Suite 104
Tigard, OR 97223
Tue–Fri 10am–6pm · Sat 9am–2pm
The hip pain does not have to set the week.
Book online, or call if you need an earlier opening than the schedule shows.
Hope Acupuncture & Wellness Center
Hope Acupuncture & Wellness Center is located on SW Hall Blvd in Tigard, OR, serving patients across Tigard, Lake Oswego, Tualatin, Sherwood, Beaverton, and Aloha.
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