What is Dry Needling?
Dry needling is a form of treatment used by physical therapists, chiropractors, and orthopedists that involves the use of thin needles to help decrease pain, relieve muscle tension, and to stimulate healing in damaged tissues. The medical research for dry needling continues to grow, supporting the use of this technique to help with pain and in the rehab of injuries.
Is Dry Needling like Acupuncture?
There are a lot of similarities between these two treatment styles. Both utilize acupuncture needles inserted into the body to help elicit a desired therapeutic effect. The main difference between the two is the “Why” the treatment is done.
An Extremely Brief Overview of Traditional Acupuncture
Traditional eastern acupuncture uses the ideas of oriental medicine such as energy flow or Qi in the body as the explanation for the basis of health. In eastern medicine, if the Qi in the body is “stagnant” or impeded in its pathway, then disease occurs. Acupuncture needles are then inserted into the body at specific points in the body along “meridians” to help restore the proper circulation of this energy. There are many different schools of thought in traditional acupuncture, such as Meridian Therapy, Five Element Theory, Master Tung style, and many many others. Each style has its own theories of treatment reasoning.
Dry Needling
Dry needling, on the other hand, uses known concepts of modern medicine, anatomy, physiology, and neurology to guide treatment rationale. Dry needling is rarely used on its own, but is usually part of a complete plan of rehab, including therapeutic exercise, medicine, and manual therapies. Treatment is usually guided by palpation of muscle, tendons, and trigger points to help determine where to put the needles, as opposed to pre-determined acupuncture points. The reasoning is to try and loosen up the trigger points and to decreased overall muscle tension. An increase in local blood flow and circulation also leads to an increased rate of healing for damaged tissues, such as with muscle and tendon strains. A decrease in pain sensation in the brain also makes it effective in treatment of painful joints, such as hips, knees, and in the spine.
What can Dry Needling Treat?
While it would be difficult to make a complete list, some of the more common conditions treated with needling are tension headaches, neck pain, back pain, shoulder pain, rotator cuff strains, tennis elbow, golfer’s elbow, patellar tendonitis, sprained ankles, Achilles tendonitis, shin splints, and much much more.
How Long does Treatment Take?
After a proper diagnosis is made, a trial of care can be started which usually involves 1-2 treatments per week for 2-3 weeks, with reassessment to follow. Dry needling treatment time can range from 4-5 minutes to up to 20 minutes in some cases, depending on the condition and treatment style needed.
Does it Hurt?
The short answer is, "sometimes, a little." Acupuncture needles are much smaller than even the small needles used in a flu shot. Most people do not feel the needle first going into the skin, but when the needles goes into the muscle layer, some people may feel a "tooth ache" or a "cramp" type feeling. That sensation is normally very short lived. Occasionally when the needle goes into a trigger point, the muscle may "twitch" which can produce a quick sensation, but is also very quick. There are dry needling techniques that are very light, where patients do not feel much of anything and there are more heavy techniques, where more aggressive manipulation is carried out. All this is based on the patient and the goals of treatment.
-Dr. Levi