Pain Relief and dry needling, doesn’t make sense does it?
Needles and pain makes sense. But needles and pain relief doesn’t. Or does it?
Well the answer is yes, it does make sense. Dry needling is a great painless therapy that is related to it’s older cousin Acupuncture. We all know about Acupuncture which dates back to 3500 years ago. But Dry Needling originated back in the late 70′s. They both use very fine needles inserted into the body. That’s where the similarity ends though.
Acupuncture is based on a completely different philosophy and diagnostic concept to that of Dry Needling.
Dry needling is used for treating muscle pain arising from trigger points found in the muscle belly. Trigger points are knots of muscle fibres that are tender to touch and can refer pain into other areas. Have a feel around your forearm, your buttock muscles, your upper neck. You’ll find them in those hard working areas.
Dry needling these trigger points causes a reflex relaxation of the muscle fibres and release of your body’s own pain killers. This reaction breaks the cycle of pain coming from the trigger point, reflex muscle spasm & then more pain.
Some people report that dry needling is very painful. Well that depends on who’s doing it! If you go to an experienced practitioner that knows what they are doing, it doesn’t have to be painful. My patients will often say, “I can’t feel a thing!”
Like any form of treatment, the more experienced the therapist is, the more likely you are to get the results you are looking for without the pain.
At the Osteo Health Group we have over 25 years experience and we have treated many patients using Dry Needling techniques.
Dry Needling is useful in treating Back Pain, Neck Pain & headaches, Sports Injuries, Muscle Tension, Acute Pain, Tennis Elbow, Frozen Shoulder, ITB pain, Rotator Cuff Injury and many other types of injury.
Dr Wayne
