What is Dry Needling?

Do you have tight muscles, painful joints or trigger points, headaches, or other pain issues? If so, maybe your practitioner has suggested dry needling to treat your pain.

Dry needling is the insertion of fine filament needles into the body, with the goal of decreasing pain and spasms. There are many conditions and symptoms that can be treated with dry needling. 

As stated above, dry needling is defined as the insertion of small needles into the human body to treat pain, “trigger points”, and soreness. There are many methods of delivery, and one must receive adequate training on how to implement this safely and effectively. 

Before receiving dry needling, you will want to make sure you are an appropriate candidate and that you have been screened for any health conditions that may prevent treatment from being safe & effective. Finding a highly trained, educated, and qualified therapist can help you do just that!

There is an extensive amount of musculoskeletal conditions that can be treated with dry needling. Patients with pain syndromes, neuromusculoskeletal disorders, and movement impairment syndromes can all benefit from treatment. Simple muscle tightness, strains and sprains, an overworked body needing recovery, muscle activation, swelling reduction, and pain modulation are all examples of clinical use of dry needling. 

Dry needling is a tool utilized during treatment and it has been demonstrated to be most effective when COMBINED with therapeutic exercise and manual techniques from a myotherapist. Dry needling is a ‘tool in the toolbox’, if you will, to treat acute and chronic pain syndromes.