Dry Needling Therapy – How Does It Work

https://vimeo.com/500961154

 

If you’re suffering from annoying and nagging muscle pain, then consider using a new treatment called dry needling. Dry needling is a form of treatment that we’re offering here at Back in Motion in Fort Myers Florida and Cape Coral which helps with muscle pain, trigger points, and nerve entrapments.

 

It helps with tendon injuries, and so much more. For those of you, that are wondering, what exactly is dry needling?

 

What Is Dry Needling?

 

So dry needling is very similar to acupuncture, except the intent is a little bit differently. So, as doctors of physical therapy, we administer single, monofilament needles into muscles adjacent to nerves or tendons.

 

The intent is to allow the body to heal itself. But it’s different than acupuncture. So acupuncture believes in energy and meridians, and it, not to say that it doesn’t exist but dry needling is more of a western medicine approach, where we believe in diagnoses of tendinosis, muscle strains, or trigger points.

 

We peck on the muscle or the tendon to allow the body to relax or heal itself. An acupuncturist may say, “Hey, you know, you have, a shoulder issue, I’m going to facilitate a meridian down into your foot, or a different line and change the energy.”

 

That’s just not what we believe as doctors of physical therapy, and Gray Method™ practitioners. It’s not to say that it doesn’t exist, it’s just, our intent is completely different than, say, an acupuncturist.

 

Who Can Benefit From Dry Needling?

 

How do you know if you’d benefit from this? If you have muscle pain, tendon pain that hasn’t gone away, headaches, or lower back pain, we can really get deeper into a muscle with these needles.

 

Conditions Dry Needling Treats:

 

• Back pain & tightness
• Neck pain & tightness
• Sport injuries
• Shin Splints
• Headaches
• Hamstring pain & tightness
• Shoulder Pain & tightness

 

The reason why it’s called dry needling is that there’s no injection. So wet needling would be where a physician or provider injects something into your body or joint.

 

But dry needling is completely different because there’s nothing that we’re injecting. It’s literally just, a small needle. A lot of times, patients ask, “Well, you know, how do I know if I qualify for it?”

 

So the few things that we consider before we proceed into dry needling are some risk factors. If you have an infection currently, or you’re pregnant, those are some things that maybe we don’t want to do this type of treatment. But, again, if you have any sort of musculoskeletal issues, chances are, you’ll benefit from dry needling.

 

Contradictions to Dry Needling:

 

• Pregnant
• Infection Present
• Needling Over Cosmetic Implant
• Compromised Immune System
• Heart Valve Replacement
• Lack of Sensation In Area
• Patient Has Needle Phobia

 

FAQs Dry Needling

 

Does it hurt?

 

Some common questions that we get about the dry needling are, does it hurt? And I would say, honestly, the majority of the patients don’t even know that they have a needle in them.

 

What can I expect after treatment?

 

Typically you are just a little sore. which is common. We actually want that because that’s what actually causes the healing process to occur. For any other questions that you may have pertaining to dry needling, enter them below.

 

In a nutshell, just to recap, dry needling is a needle that we stick into a muscle adjacent to a nerve or a tendon. It helps with myofascial pain, trigger points, nerve pathology, tendon injuries, headaches, plantar fasciitis, lower back pain, plus much, much more. So, again, if you have any questions, leave them in the comments below, and we’ll gladly, respond to those.