30 mins
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Experiencing tight muscles after your workouts? Or perhaps you trained too hard and the tight muscles are not easing up? Maybe it’s time you try something different. Dry needling.
Is dry needling the same as acupuncture?
Can it help me alleviate chronic pain?
With its growing popularity, dry needling is being seen as an alternative for relieving pain in the muscles. But why does it work? In today’s FAQ guide we cover questions that will help you make an informed decision about trying out dry needling.
What is Dry Needling?
Based on the principles of physical anatomy and Western medicine, dry needling is an alternative method that uses the pricking of needles to help alleviate pain in the muscles.
One of the common reasons for muscle pain is a tight band in muscle fibre. It is when a part of your muscle fibre tightens too much and can get inflamed or irritated causing excruciating pain. It also causes restricts your range of motion and refers and mitigates pain to other parts of your body. These are called trigger points.
These trigger points are often areas where there is a clot, knotting of hard muscles. Dry needling is applied to these special trigger points that correspond to these internal muscles.
Microneedles, monofilament needles, are inserted into these trigger points of the muscles that may be causing pain. The aim is to use dry needling on these trigger points to help decrease muscle tightness, increase blood flow and reduce overall pain.
How does dry needling work?
In dry needling, a practitioner uses a thin single-filament needle to insert at key trigger points in the muscle. Lauren Lobert, D.P.T., C.S.C.S., owner of APEX Physical Therapy shares “The micro-lesion created breaks up shortened tissues, normalizes the inflammatory response, and mediates your pain.” The insertion of the needle in the specific area helps create an environment that may facilitate healing.
Many injuries that athletes face during their tenure are related to in some form or the other to muscular issues. Some of them include but are not limited to, chronic upper trapezius strains (neck, upper back and shoulders), runner’s knee and lower back pain.
Ashley Speights O’Neill, D.P.T., a physical therapist at PhysioDC who uses dry needling in her practice states that many of these strains and spasms can be helped through dry needling. “Some injuries that tend to do quite well with dry needling include chronic upper trapezius strains, runner’s knee and ITB syndrome, shoulder impingement, generalized low back pain, shin splints, and other muscle strains and spasms,”
How long does it take for dry needling to work?
While you may experience a little bit of soreness, it’s nothing to worry about. Most patients can see immediate results and may report decreased pain. For a lot of other patients, it may take up to 24 hours to start seeing the results.
Dry needling therapists recommend that for continued results you may opt for a weekly session for a few months to see gradual improvement.
What are some of its benefits?
Benefit #1 Pain relief – Dry needling may help reduce pain in target areas of the body through trigger points therapy. For someone suffering from shoulder or neck pain, the practitioner inserts needles in those specific areas. Before insertion, they detect the trigger points that will ensure the needle stimulates the pain point. When the point is activated, there is a release of stress.
Benefit #2 Muscle tightening – Followed by the release of stress from the muscles for pain relief, the inflammation is also taken care of. The tension from the muscles is released along with toxins and chemicals. The pressure that causes pain also vanishes. These lead to a better and more efficient muscle group and immediate pain relief.
Benefit #3 Enhanced range of motion – Dry Needling may directly affect the problematic muscle group which affects your overall movement. For someone who is experiencing chronic pain, there is an invariable restriction in motion. Dry needling may help reduce this pain and improve the overall function of your muscles gradually increasing your range of motion.
Benefit #4 Fastened recovery – The most time-consuming and difficult part post an injury is undoubtedly the recovery period. With dry needling, some practitioners may help speed this process of healing, tightening, restoration and rebuilding of muscles.
Is dry needling painful?
Each person may experience dry needling differently. Many people report
Where can I find a centre for dry needling?
If you’re in a well-populated area, it shouldn’t be too difficult to find a dry needling centre studio within a reasonable distance of you.
A simple way to look for dry needling centres options near you is by using Avaana — Australia’s #1 Health & Wellbeing marketplace.
Follow these 5 steps to book a class:
Step 1: Type “Dry Needling” into the search bar and enter your location
Step 2: Browse the centres nearest to you. You can filter by cost, distance and speciality
Step 3: Instantly see when and where appointments are available
Step 4: Choose a session that suits you and confirm the booking
Step 5: Relax knowing that you’ll receive an SMS reminder of your appointment
How often should I go for dry needling?
The frequency of dry needling sessions depends on your condition and your pain levels. In the case of acute pain situations, a single session of needling is more than enough.
For people suffering from chronic and major pain situations, you may have to be patient as it might take a few sittings to see lasting improvements.
You are always provided consultation before you start your dry needling session. This ensures that you are safe and comfortable. The therapist always discusses your personalized plan of healthcare in the first session and helps track your progress.
Dry needling VS acupuncture?
Both dry needling or acupuncture use the same type of needles for their respective processes. But that’s about the only similarity between the two practices.
Dry needling is based on western medicine and is focused on alleviating the pain of neuromusculoskeletal issues.
Acupuncture is based on the principles of traditional eastern medicine practice which helps in the channelization of energy. Acupuncture aims to channelize the flow of free energy by inserting needles on meridians (or points) that correspond to organs.
Acupuncture focuses on ‘Qi,’ the energy present in our body. On the other hand, dry needling is designed to stimulate trigger points to facilitate pain relief for irritable muscles.
How much does dry needling cost?
As you’ve probably gathered from reading this guide, dry needling may be an option for you if you are feeling chronic pain or tightening of muscles.
The best way to book a session is to compare prices and find one that you feel is most convenient. A single session may cost you between $65 and $95 for consultations.
If you’d like to give dry needling a go but are concerned about the expense, maybe the offer below could tempt you?
Get 15% OFF the first dry needling session you book using Avaana — Australia’s largest dedicated health and wellbeing marketplace.
Active Code: NEEDLING15
Go ahead and enter this code at checkout to make a fantastic saving.
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We hope you enjoy the discounted session!
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