Dry Needling Experience
If you are experiencing pain, stiffness in muscles, or limited mobility, you may be familiar with dry needling, a technique gaining popularity among physical therapists and other healthcare practitioners. Dry needling has proven to be the most beneficial in addressing everything from sports injuries to lower back pains, migraines, etc.
You may have heard about dry needling, but if you are confused about how it works, its benefits, and the overall experience of dry needling, this guide is for you!
What is Dry Needling?
Dry needling physical therapy is a technique physical therapists use to treat muscular pains by placing needles on the trigger points. This process uses dry needling needles that are fine, short, filiform, and made of stainless steel to penetrate the skin, connective tissue, trigger points, and adhesions.
These needles do not inject any fluid into the body; thus, the name – dry needling. This speeds the healing process and relieves pain by improving the range of motion, correcting movement dysfunction by releasing the trigger point adhesion, and decreasing muscle hypertonicity.
Dry needling help treat these areas: –
1. Spinal issues
2. Pelvic pain
3. Tendinitis
4. Joint and disk problems
5. Jaw and mouth problems
Remember not to confuse dry needling with acupuncture. Acupuncture is based on traditional Chinese medicinal treatment performed by acupuncturists. However, dry needling is a Western form of medicine backed by research.
What is a Trigger Point?
A trigger point in the body is a band of skeletal muscles within a larger muscle group. Trigger points can be painful and tender to touch and may also spread pain to other body parts. These trigger points can develop in the body doing recreational, occupational, or sports activities when the muscles overuse their capacity, further disturbing normal recovery.
While applying needles to these trigger points, their tightness reduces, further reducing the local pain.
How Does It Work - Mechanism of Action
Dry needling physical therapy in Livonia is an advanced treatment technique to treat pain and improve movement impairments. The mechanism of action from dry needling includes: –
1. Twitch response: Dry needling creates small pricks in the skin that stimulate a twitch response in the body’s muscle fibers, releasing the trigger points responsible for causing the pain. A twitch response in the body is a reflexive response of a dysfunctional muscle area to a disturbance or palpitation, in this case, dry needling. It results in the contraction of the affected muscles receiving dry needling therapy.
2. Blood Flow: Contraction in the taut muscle bands in trigger points may lead to hypoxia or ischemia. Dry needling will cause vasodilation in the small blood vessels, leading to increased blood flow and oxygen in the affected areas, thus relieving pain.
3. Remote Effects: Dry needling has been found to have an analgesic effect on the areas near the trigger points getting dry needled.
4. Neurophysiological Effects: Dry needling can stimulate both local and central nervous system responses that work collectively to restore homeostasis at the site of the trigger point. It can reduce both central and peripheral sensitization to pain, reducing sensitivity to pain signals and reducing normal muscle function.
What Are The Benefits of Dry Needling?
Pain Relief
One of the many benefits of dry needling is its ability to provide fast and effective pain relief. It targets specific trigger points in the tissues and helps reduce muscle tension and stiffness without medication or surgery. It is a perfect treatment for people who have tried several other treatments for chronic pain relief with little to no success.
Improved Range of Motion
Dry needling is an excellent treatment to improve the range of motion in the affected muscles and joints. It relieves tension and reduces pain, which helps restore muscle function, allowing you to move freely without discomfort.
Noninvasive
Dry needling is a noninvasive technique for pain relief. That means it does not require surgery or injections. It is an appealing option for people who are scared of invasive procedures or are not the right candidates for surgery.
Releases Neurotransmitters
The dry needling treatment stimulates the body and impacts the release of opiate peptides like beta-endorphins, dynorphins, and enkephalins. These neurotransmitters can block the transmission of pain signals to the brain and the spinal cord, handling and reducing pain.
How Does It Feel Like Getting Dry Needling?
Medical practitioners use extremely thin needles for dry needling treatment. And everyone who gets the dry needling treatment does not generally experience pain or even feel the needles in their body.
While inserting the needle, your therapist will go through your skin and the muscle they are targeting. They do it to target a trigger point. While doing that, they hit the trigger point that gives a local twitch response. This response is a good thing and is a sign that the problem area is found.
For some people, the feeling of the twitch response can feel like a surprise and be experienced with a heavy gasp and breathing. A physical therapist might manipulate the needle up and down to reach the trigger point. According to the patients, it might not be that painful, but it feels weird.Â
Apart from that, here are a few things that happen after the dry-needling process: –
1. Reproduction of pain is common in some dry-needling cases. People with constant headache issues get dry needling done in the sternocleidomastoid muscle present in the neck and might report having a headache after that. However, the pain lasts for about an hour before it begins to reduce and eventually stops.
2. Some people experience a release sensation that they find pleasing, just like a deep tissue massage. It is common in the neck areas where a lot of tension exists.
3. Exceptions are always there in most cases. Some people might shout or yell in pain, but things will get better once they get a hold of it and experience positive results.
Wrapping up
In conclusion, dry needling offers a range of benefits for individuals dealing with chronic pain, muscle tension, and restricted mobility. Dry needling can be a valuable tool in managing your condition and improving your quality of life by providing fast and effective pain relief, improving range of motion, promoting healing, along with being a noninvasive treatment option.
If you’re considering dry needling, talk to your physical therapist or healthcare practitioner to determine if it’s the right choice. You can also contact Back2Health for more information or schedule an appointment for dry needling physical therapy in Livonia
