Dry Needling
Physical therapists use dry needling with the goals of addressing neuromuscular conditions, relieving pain, and/or improving range of motion. Evidence to date supports that this technique improves pain control, reduces muscle tension and normalizes dysfunctions of the motor end plates, the sites at which nerve impulses are transmitted to muscles. This can help speed up the patient’s return to active rehabilitation.
Dry Needling is a form of acupuncture where the needles are placed in muscle “trigger points”. A Trigger point is a discrete, irritable, overactive point in skeletal muscle or fascia that can be felt as a nodule or band in the muscle. Touching the trigger point reproduces the complaint of pain, so area’s of needling is dependent on therapist feel and reports of reproduction of pain.
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF DRY NEEDLING?
Research has shown that acupuncture increases the micro-circulation, blood flow and blood vessel movement throughout the body, which in turn increases oxygenation of the tissues. This helps flush toxins, waste products, and other accumulated particles and chemicals from the tissues improving their overall function.
This can manifest in the patient as:
- Reduce Pain
- Reduce the Intake of Pain Relieving Medication
- Reduce Swelling