If you’re looking to alleviate some of the chronic pain or lingering soreness you’ve been feeling for quite some time, chances are that you’re doing some extensive research on potential treatments and programs that could help you with your pain. You might have even come across acupuncture or dry needling and are debating on which treatment might be better for you. If that sounds like you, we’ve highlighted some of the most important details regarding dry needling therapy, how it might benefit you as part of a comprehensive care plan, and the key differences between acupuncture and dry needling.
Dry needling is the process of using thin, short needles to target pressure points in the body which can relieve stress and muscle tension. Dry needling is often performed by physical therapists for individuals who have recent sports or physical injuries accompanied by pain, swelling, or muscle tension.
The main purpose of dry needling is to alleviate some of the pain that might be stemming from trigger points throughout the body or key pain areas. Trigger points are areas in which the muscle can be tight and tender to the touch, resulting in pain or sensitivity in other parts or areas of the body.
Some of the most common issues with trigger points throughout the body are from muscle spasms or knots that can form over time. These muscle spasms and knots can eventually lead to you developing some recurring pain or discomfort. Often times, patients have trigger points and they don’t realize it. Trigger points can arise from things like tight muscles and lead to recurring issues like frequent cramping and twitching sensations. Dry needling therapy is the use of tiny needles that when properly placed can help alleviate the pain, improve function, and improve flexibility.
Dry needling is a process in which skilled and qualified physical therapists will place these needles in key locations to address some of those pain spots and improve range of motion over time. Dry needling is recommended as part of a much larger and comprehensive physical therapy treatment and care program that stems from a comprehensive evaluation of a patient’s symptoms, muscle functions, and flexibility.
It’s important to take note that dry needling therapy itself might not be enough to cure all your ailments and chronic pain. Instead, it’s often one piece of a much larger pie that helps identify what could potentially be causing your pain, what steps need to be taken, and then the creation and follow-through of a comprehensive physical therapy program to help you get back to full function and reduced pain. Dry needling therapy is only one part of the comprehensive PT program that is designed to get you back up to a healthier lifestyle faster.
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Dry needling offers many benefits for individuals who are recovering from injuries, who have chronic muscle tension and stress, and more. Research has shown that dry needling can help to alleviate pain and tension¹ while improving overall function.
Physical therapists have been adding dry needling therapy into comprehensive physical therapy treatment programs to assist patients with relieving some of that chronic pain and improving their overall function for the last several years. At Results Physiotherapy, we believe that patients can improve their pain levels and improve function by incorporating dry needling therapy into their treatment program when it might be beneficial to them or it aligns with the overall treatment program due to the numerous benefits dry needling therapy can provide.
The many advantages of dry needling include:
Dry needling is an effective tool that helps address and treat pain and tension that is in localized areas due to a variety of different reasons. Often times, the most common trigger points can lead to pain buildup, injury, tension, or stress in the same areas that dry needling is effective in alleviating.
Each patient works with a physical therapist to identify what kind of pain relief is possible and how dry needling might improve their pain levels and restore function. This personalized treatment for each patient helps them identify ways in which dry needling could potentially provide pain relief while also highlighting some of the potential drawbacks or side effects that might come from dry needling therapy. It’s important to note that not every patient should receive dry needling therapy, and it’s the physical therapist’s responsibility to determine whether or not the patient might relieve their pain from dry needling therapy.
When dry needling therapy has been recommended and the treatment process has begun, it has been proven to alleviate pain for patients in a variety of areas that patients frequently seek pain relief for. Dry needling has been proven to help alleviate pain and tension caused by injury and stress in the following areas:
Along with pain relief, dry needling offers improved function and flexibility for sore and injured pain points for patients while undergoing physical therapy.
As we’ve highlighted earlier, one of the most common afflictions that dry needling therapy is used for is chronic pain that arises from stressed muscles or tension. Dry needling is capable of assisting with relieving that tension and reducing the strain that muscles are experiencing by relieving some of the tautness of the muscles which can lead to cramps, strains, stress, and tension over time.
In much the same way that repetitive physical movements and targeted stretching and massage have been shown to speed up healing for injuries, dry needling is used to help improve blood circulation and reduce swelling. Improving the ability to circulate blood to trouble areas will help alleviate the tension and swelling that can arise in these painful areas.
This can allow individuals to heal faster and regain full movement of injured joints and muscles. The use of dry needling along with physiotherapy has been proven to help individuals heal sooner than traditional physical therapy techniques alone.
For individuals who are sensitive to pain medication or prefer not to include pain medication in their treatment and recovery plan, dry needling offers a safe and effective way to treat pain and speed up healing without drugs. Unlike trigger point injections, dry needling does not use hypodermic needles to inject Botox or steroids into patients. For diabetics and other individuals who are sensitive to steroidal treatment, dry needling offers a safe alternative.
In the same way that every patient is unique, dry needling therapy and dry needling treatment programs are unique for every single individual. For those patients who are considering dry needling treatment, a Results physical therapist will assist you and guide you through the evaluation and treatment process.
At Results, we take great pride in making sure that every patient has the best knowledge and treatment programs that are designed to meet their physical and pain relief goals. In this regard, every single dry needling therapy allows for personalized treatment plans and programs that are designed around your specific pain relief needs and improved function goals.
This personalized treatment program can help patients recover quicker and get back to their daily routines faster.
Dry needling therapy can help with both acute pain and chronic pain. Dry needling therapy can assist patients with dealing with some chronic pain in frequent trouble spots like low back pain, headaches, and other overuse strains or injuries.
Whether you’ve got a nagging injury that just doesn’t go away or an acute injury that pops up every now and then only to seemingly disappear shortly after, dry needling therapy can help relieve some of that pain you’re experiencing and restore function over time.
One of the most commonly asked questions regarding dry needling therapy is whether or not it is painful, and while a patient might receive some level of discomfort, oftentimes it is short and fades quickly. Often times, the kind of discomfort can stem from the treatment itself in that the muscle contracts and eventually releases as tension in the muscle is released.
The sensation or discomfort patients typically feel is similar to a short-lived muscle cramp that is gone with a little bit of time.
While dry needling and acupuncture both involve using thin needles to relieve tension, dry needling is a practice typically received in a physical therapist’s or licensed health provider’s office for the purposes of pain relief following an injury or to alleviate chronic pain and headaches associated with muscle tension.
Acupuncture, on the other hand, aims to alleviate stress and tension for the purposes of relaxation and wellness and is typically offered by massage therapists and acupuncturists in spas and massage studios. Both dry needling and acupuncture can be used hand-in-hand to achieve optimal results for those living with chronic pain and/or stress.
Some of the confusion between dry needling and acupuncture largely relies on the belief that they are the same thing. But there are a few key differences that separate the two treatments that you should be aware of.
One of the major differences between dry needling and acupuncture is the level of training necessary to complete these procedures. While acupuncturists are not required to have extensive knowledge of anatomy and physiology or musculoskeletal trigger points, physiotherapists are extensively trained in the use of dry needling and physical therapy to aid in the recovery of injuries. Acupuncturists may use placement points known as meridians to place needles, or they may be placed in a specific pattern in order to encourage stress relief, but unlike dry needling treatments, no physical medical benefits are likely to be derived from these procedures.
Many physiotherapists offer dry needling treatments to help speed recovery of injuries. Results PT locations offering physiotherapy and dry needling treatments can be found across the country. If you’re looking to determine whether or not dry needling treatments might be right for you, Book an Appointment Today at one of our many locations to see a physical therapist. If your physical therapist determines that you would benefit from some dry needling treatments as part of a larger physical therapy treatment program, then you can get dry needling treatments to alleviate some of your pain and improve function over time.
At Results Physiotherapy, our physical therapists can help you determine whether or not you need dry needling treatments and help educate you on whether or not your chronic pain can benefit from future treatments.
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