What is Dry Needling?

Dry Needling is a skilled intervention to treat muscular tension and spasm which commonly accompanies conditions such as arthritis, nerve irritation, muscular strain, ligament strains and herniated discs.

Busybody Physical Therapy utilizes trigger point dry needling to release painful knots in tissues. Trigger Point Dry Needling is the use of solid filament needles inserted through the skin and into the muscle to release painful myofascial trigger points. Dry needling results in the deepest tissue release allowing for improvements in movement and pain. It is called “Dry” Needling because there is no solution injected as with a hypodermic needle during a vaccine shot. With Dry Needling, the needle itself and the effects it produces within the tissue is the treatment.

How is Dry Needling Used in Sports Medicine Therapy?

Physical therapists & Sports Medicine use dry needling with the goal of releasing or soften trigger points to relieve pain or improve range of motion. Preliminary research supports that dry needling improves pain control, reduces muscle tension, and normalizes dysfunctions of the motor end plates, the sites at which nerve impulses are transmitted to muscles. This can help speed up your return to active rehabilitation.

As part of their entry level education, physical therapists are well educated in anatomy and therapeutic treatment of the body. Physical therapists who perform dry needling supplement that knowledge by obtaining specific postgraduate education and training.

Is Dry Needling the same thing as Acupuncture?

If you only compared dry needling and acupuncture with a photo, you might be stumped to identify each. Both acupuncture and dry needling use thin, stainless steel needles. For both practices, needles are inserted into the skin and both also claim to treat pain.

That’s where the similarities end. Unique qualities help differentiate the two. One practice has been used for thousands of years as an alternative treatment. The other’s been adopted by sports and physical therapists over the last couple of decades.

Acupuncture is designed to relieve pain, discomfort, or issues by opening up a person’s energy flow or chi. Dry Needling is a treatment designed to stimulate trigger points, or muscles that are irritable.

Contact Busybody Fitness & Rehab to learn more about Dry Needling.