It may sound unreal to many people that piercing needles in your body can relieve pain. The dry needling method is proving this contradiction true. It is an effective method that is commonly used in physiotherapy to help to recover from injury or relieving musculoskeletal and myofascial pain. The therapy uses acupuncture pins to needle the trigger points that are the most common reason for the origination of such pain. The trigger points are painful tense muscle tissues that are punctured by this method. The action induces oxygenation of contracted muscle fibers, reduces tension, and improves blood flow. You will experience a significant reduction in pain and inflammation over the treated area. Most people mistook dry needling for acupuncture. Although the therapy involves the use of acupuncture needles, it is a completely different technique. You can find plenty of literature on dry needling vs acupuncture services explaining the difference between the two procedures. The basic difference is that dry needling works on specific trigger points that are identified before the treatment. The goal is to release the trigger points to reduce tightening and pain. On the other hand, acupuncture treats acupuncture points in different types of tissues with different goals.
- Types of dry needling
The basic concept of dry needling is to release the stiffened muscle tissues and stimulate the body’s natural healing process to reduce pain and fix the injury. The treatment is performed with sterile disposable acupuncture needles with essentially no medicine injected. The treatment can be performed in two ways and the selection of the technique depends on your need and complaint.
- Intramuscular stimulation (IMS)
In this approach, the needle is stuck into the trigger point directly. You would feel a local twitch response in the pierced area. This twitch response is a sensation that occurs as the underlying muscles are released. This also proves that the right point is punctured by the needle. It is also known to reduce inflammation in the nearby muscles.
- Superficial dry needling (SDN)
In this technique, your skin superficially is about 3 to 4 millimeters above the trigger point. This stimulates several reflexes via your brain and spinal cord that relaxes your muscles and reduces pain.
- Benefits of dry needling
Dry needling is a safe technique that effectively reduces pain and assists in healing after injury. It can greatly help in many conditions like low back pain, back pain, tennis elbow, migraine, spinal or joint dysfunction, etc. Many physiotherapists are increasingly opting for this technique for rehab to speed up recovery. Prominent benefits of dry needling include the following.
- Reduce pain and stiffness
A major cause of pain is often the stiffness of muscle tissues, inflammation, chemical accumulation, and pressure in the muscles. All these factors create trigger points, the epicenter of pain. Dry needling targets these trigger points and releases tension, pressure, and chemicals to reduce pain.
- Enhance range of motion
As mentioned earlier, dry needling reduces pain and stiffness in the muscles. This relaxes muscles and gives them full degree movement. It is highly beneficial for athletes who rely on the fluid movement of their joints. It eases up the muscles and provides your full-range motion.
- Accelerate recovery
Often in case of an injury, recovery takes longer than the actual treatment. This is where dry needling can help. It reduces pain and inflammation much faster and gives you freedom of movement much earlier than usual.