5 Reasons You Can See a Physical Therapist for Dry Needling

Ever have that knot in your neck and stretching isn’t helping? When you have a trigger point or knot in your muscle, your muscle fibers are essentially “stuck” in a contracted position

This is where Dry Needling can help.

What is Dry Needling

Dry needling as a newer technique that Physical Therapists can use to help get you out of pain. We strive to lead from the front, and utilize the best research backed modalities to get you out of pain and keep you out of pain.

Not all Physical Therapists are certified to Dry Needle so let’s talk about why you should find one who is!

How Does Dry Needling Work?

Dry needling uses a thin, monofilament needle (the same that is used in acupuncture) that is placed into a trigger point, or knot, in a muscle to help it calm down. The goal is to have the needle get that muscle to relax by releasing muscle tension and promote blood flow to that spot.

So, why do you need Dry Needling?

1) Dry Needling Can Help with a Variety of Different Injuries

Dry Needling has been shown to help alleviate pain for injuries that have both been going on for a long time or one’s that just popped up over the weekend. Think of Dry Needling like a more specific massage, we are addressing the same muscle but in a more direct way. Dry Needling can help with injuries such as:

• Low Back Pain

• Tennis Elbow

• Achilles Tendonitis

• Neck Pain

• Headaches

• Rotator Cuff Strains

• Runner’s Knee

• Hip Tendonitis

• Muscle Strains

And so much more!

2) Pain Relief and Pain Management

Dry Needling targets those pesky trigger points in your muscles by relieving muscle tension. Have your neck muscles been so tight you felt a headache coming on? Or shoulder muscle pulling so much you couldn’t reach your arm over head? Dry Needling is effective in releasing that muscle tension and having your muscles reset to allow you to live your life pain free.

3) Improve Muscle Function

A lot of the time we look at Dry Needling as a modality to help loosen muscles.

HOWEVER, there is research that shows that Dry Needling can also help improve muscle function!

Why?

Those annoying trigger points or muscle knots have been shown to fatigue muscles quicker, alter activation patterns, and decrease strength of muscles. So Dry Needling can alleviate those trigger points, improve blood flow, and improve the ability for the muscle to activate!

Schneider E, Moore ES, Stanborough R, Slaven E. Effects of Trigger Point Dry Needling on Strength Measurements and Activation Levels of the Gluteus Medius: A Quasi-Experimental Randomized Control Study. IJSPT. 2022;17(7):1404-1416.

4)Stop Pain BEFORE it Becomes an Injury

Addressing pain early has consistently been shown to not only improve your pain faster but also prevent that pain from turning into an injury. Those annoying overuse injuries like when your back is tight after a weekend of yard work, the calf pain after running, or your shoulder pain after the gym. If they go untreated they can lead to a bigger issue down the road which can cause you to have to fully stop doing those activities.

Knocking those things out early can help you continue to do what you love without having to take time off.

5) Complementary Treatment to Get You o Your Goals

Dry Needling is just one tool that Physical Therapists can use to help address your pain. Sometimes we include e-stim or TENS with Dry Needling to offer different effects. BUT all of the time we are using Dry Needling in conjunction with other hands on techniques and exercise.

The goal is not only to get you out of pain. We want to keep you out of pain and prevent injuries in the future!

Ready to get out of pain?

Book a FREE Phone Consultation with Dr Matt and take $100 off your first Dry Needling Physical Therapy evaluation!