Baseball’s Oldest Player Reveals His Secret – Acupuncture

Jason Giambi says he got some teasing at first, but now even his younger teammates are giving this ancient healing art a try.

The team doctor for the Cleveland Indians says he can’t think of any other baseball team with an in-house acupuncturist. That may be because the Cleveland Indians also boast the oldest player currently in the major leagues.

Designated hitter Jason Giambi is 43. He started in the majors 20 years ago, when some of his teammates were still in diapers. He says he was looking for anything to help him keep up.

“I’m older and traveling a lot and not sleeping so much,” he says. “We got on this routine of doing acupuncture…and it’s really made a huge difference for me.”

Jamie Starkey is the lead acupuncturist at the Center for Integrative Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic. She is also the Cleveland Indians’ team acupuncturist.

“I can go in and actually release some of the muscles that may be tight and that would actually prevent injury down the road,” she says.

She also offers yoga and Reiki massage. “It’s wonderful in terms of supporting the immune system and to promote sleep and overall wellness and stress management,” she says. “All of those things in combination – both eastern and western medicines – will help prolong a player’s shelf life.”

Giambi says at first his teammates made fun of him, but not anymore. “Now they’re like, ‘Hey, he’s still playing. He’s 43. I might give that a shot,’" he says. "And before you know it, there’s five or six guys that do it now.”