What is the big deal with Dry Needling?
What is Dry Needling?
Dry needling is a therapeutic technique used by physical therapists and other certified healthcare professionals to treat musculoskeletal and neuromuscular pain and dysfunction. It involves the insertion of thin monofilament needles into specific points into and around muscles, tendons, and other soft tissues in order to create a response.
This treatment is rapidly growing in popularity due to the rapid changes and improvements in symptoms it can make as well as the strong research proving its effectiveness. Dry needling can often relieve muscle pain or tension in targeted areas within seconds, whereas other manual therapies may require dozens of minutes or even multiple sessions before noticeable relief is achieved. It allows the physical therapist to be able to directly target the painful areas and reach deeper into the muscles than with what fingers alone can reach making for more effective treatment sessions.
How Does It Work?
Multiple healing effects are brought on through drying needling including the resolution of trigger points in the irritated areas. Trigger points are the sensitive “knots” found on tight and sore muscles that when touched can cause radiating pain throughout the muscle and surrounding areas. When dry needling into trigger points, an involuntary muscle twitch occurs as the trigger point itself breaks down and resolves symptoms almost immediately.
Dry needling also helps to initiate the body’s natural healing processes by triggering an inflammatory response caused by microtrauma to the area from the needle. This will promote blood flow to the area which increases the delivery of oxygen and nutrients to the tissue, and increase the release of endorphins for pain control all of which aid in faster recovery.
How Is It Done?
Techniques of dry needling can vary based on the goals of treatment or the area being treated. One common technique called pistoning involves inserting the needle into a muscle then gradually moving the needle in and out of the muscle while gradually changing the direction in order to clear out trigger points throughout the muscle. When pistoning, the goal is to needle into the trigger point in order to release the tension creating almost instantaneous relief of both soreness at the trigger point location as well as relief throughout the rest of the muscle and surrounding tissues. This strategy of dry needling is often the most fast and effective in managing tight and sore muscles as well as more acute injuries.
Another technique of dry needling involves inserting the needle then leaving it in the tissue for an extended period of time, generally between 10 and 30 minutes. While the needle is left in the tissue, the therapist may gently wind the needle in order to spread the effects further throughout the muscle. The needle can also be hooked up to electrical current in order to channel the signal deep into the muscle creating either a pain blocking signal, potentially small muscle contractions, or a neuromuscular reset of the muscle. The technique of leaving the needle in the tissue is often used for more chronic conditions or nerve related conditions. It is often used when the faster pistoning technique may not be fully managing the symptoms.
How Can Dry Needling Help You:
- Reduces Pain: Dry Needling is an effective tool that can be used to alleviate pain through targeting at or near trigger points, tight muscles, irritated nerves, and chronically painful areas for relief.
- Improves Mobility: By targeting trigger points in muscles, dry needling can rapidly reduce muscle tension and restriction allowing for an immediately noticeable improvement in range of motion.
- Renews Muscle Function and Control: Muscles can be inhibited by pain, tightness, and trigger points leading to improper activation affecting strength, movement mechanics, and overall muscle control. Dry needling can act as a neuromuscular “reset” in order to resolve the symptoms and allow for renewed use of the treated tissues.
- Gives Faster Results: Dry needling can provide relief of tightness and pain in muscles in as quick as a few seconds. It provides treatment directly localized to the source of the problem by getting deeper in the muscle than any hands can go.
- Manages Both Acute and Chronic Pain: Different techniques of dry needling allow the physical therapist to effectively manage both new injuries and linger old ones. With chronic conditions, the body can get stuck in a cycle of being unable to self heal the area. Dry needling can restart the inflammatory process to facilitate the body to heal itself again.
- Treats Both Simple Muscle Soreness as well as Complex Nerve Pain: Dry needling can influence the nervous system by affecting neurotransmitters and nerve signaling. This neuromodulation can help in managing and reducing nerve-related pain for conditions such as complex regional pain syndrome, fibromyalgia, and hyper-sensitivity. The micro trauma caused by the needling stimulates a rush of blood flow to not just the muscles, but also nourishes and promotes healing of nerves.
- Complementary to Other Therapies: Dry needling can be integrated into a comprehensive physical therapy plan complementing other treatments including manual therapy and exercise for a holistic approach to rehabilitation.
Let’s Wrap This Up:
Physical therapists can tailor dry needling treatments based on an individual’s specific needs and diagnosis making it a versatile approach to pain management and rehabilitation. Dry needling can be integrated into a personalized comprehensive physical therapy plan complementing other manual therapy treatments including soft tissue mobilization, Graston, cupping, and manipulation. Dry needling can get you better faster to allow you to continue with your daily activities. If you have been dealing with an injury that just doesn’t seem to be improving on its own, dry needling might be the missing piece needed to address this problem.