Dry Needling
What is Dry Needling?
Trigger Point Dry Needling is a technique that may help manage or alleviate your pain symptoms by treating trigger points using solid filament needles. Trigger points are tight, irritable areas within your muscles, commonly referred to as ‘muscle knots’. Pain can be local or referred to another area. For example, headaches may stem from trigger points in your neck.
How Does Dry Needling Work?
Dry Needling, sometimes known as intramuscular therapy, is a manual technique that may be used in physical therapy for the treatment of pain and impaired movement. It involves the insertion of a sterile, single-use solid filament needle into muscular trigger points of the body resulting in certain biochemical changes such as:
- Increased blood flow
- Decreased muscle banding
- Central Nervous System changes
- Decreased inflammation
- Decreased pain
What Conditions Can Be Treated with Dry Needling?
Dry Needling can be beneficial for both acute and chronic sport-related and repetitive stress injuries, including:
- Neck or shoulder pain
- Headaches
- Chronic lower back pain
- Muscle strains or tears
- Tennis or golfer’s elbow
- Achilles Tendonitis
- Rotator cuff injuries
- Carpal tunnel syndrome
What Happens During Treatment?
If someone is a candidate for Dry Needling, the area in question would be assessed to identify the treatment area. If appropriate, a needle will be inserted into the targeted muscle/trigger point. Exact placement and penetration depth of the filament needle will depend upon the area being treated and goals of the treatment. Duration of the treatment/needle insertion ranges from 30 sec – 3 minutes.
Are There Any Side Effects?
Like many manual therapy techniques, some soreness is possible, after treatment. Once that soreness has subsided, improvement in the targeted muscle group should be noticeable. The exact number of sessions someone needs depends upon the individual and their response to treatment.
To learn more about our Dry Needling program or to schedule an appointment with one of our Dry Needling therapists, please contact us at 888-950-9939.