Dry Needling
Have you ever heard of dry needling?
Maybe you thought it was the same thing as acupuncture?
Let us tell you about it!
I was out of the office this past weekend to dive into the world of dry needling, and it was nothing short of amazing!! I got the opportunity to step aside with the instructor for the course to shed a little bit of light on the basics of what dry needling is, what it isn’t, and how it can help you. I know a lot of people aren’t too sure of what it is exactly, so I wanted to change that!
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As Brian says in the video, dry needling is NOT acupuncture! Though they are similar in the fact that they both use thin filiform needles for treatment, their philosophies vary greatly. Dry needling is targeting to have an effect on the the neuromuscular system (aka the nervous and muscular systems).
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By stimulating certain structures of the body with thin needles, we are helping to accelerate the body’s healing response as well as making it work more efficiently. Creating a small lesion under the skin increases blood flow to the area, decreases pain, decreases swelling, and has a huge effect on the nervous system. What structures are we going for? It depends the issue! It could be anything from a passive trigger point, muscle, tendon, ligament, bone, or fascial plane. Sometimes we add electric stimulation to increase the dose of treatment as well.
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But how do you know what you’re poking at under there if you can’t see it? What about the major veins, arteries, and nerves? As a physician, we are highly trained in the body’s anatomy and physiology. But even further, every single treatment we map out (with sticker dots and washable marker on the patient) exactly where the structures are that we’re aiming for, what our safe borders are, and any danger zones that we will stay WELL away from. Safety is always first, every time.
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How long does treatment take? How many needles? How many times will I have to get it? Research has a hard time answering these questions because every person’s physiology is different. However, if you’ve never had dry needling treatment before, we would start small with only a few needles for maybe 5 minutes, all depending on patient tolerance. To let the small lesions heal under the skin that needles create, we would go 3-5 days between treatments.
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Does it hurt?? Most times no, sometimes yes! Sometimes you don’t even feel the needle go in, and other times you feel it right away! This can greatly depend on if you’re holding a lot of tension in certain muscles. The great thing is, these needles are very thin (way more thin than ones used to give blood). There is no doubt that these needles traveling under the skin go through small capillaries and nerves close to the skin. So some may burn more than others, but it is such a different experience for every person. If one spot is persistent and continues to hurt, we will remove it and move to an adjacent region to insert a new one.
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Are there any common reactions after getting dry needling treatment? The most common ‘positive’ reactions to dry needling are feeling relaxed and energized. The most common ‘negative’ reactions to dry needling are bruising and pain at the site of insertion.
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Chiro C·L·E is very happy to announce that we are now offering dry needling to our patients. We are happy to answer any and all questions you may have about it! When you come into the office, we will go over an entire form with you to make sure there are no contraindications to treatment!
