WHAT IS DRY NEEDLING?

What Is It?

Dry needling, not to be confused with acupuncture, is a term used to describe using thin needles on trigger points in the muscle and fascia. It has been used to treat pain and musculoskeletal disorders and can even be used to help with neck pain, back pain and headaches. The reason dry needling, or "intromuscular stimulation" has become so popular among physical therapists is because it can get deeper into injured muscles to treat shortened muscle bands, help release trigger points, muscle spasms and even help induce blood flow back to the injured area, which in turn speeds up the total healing process. It can even be used in conjunction with massage to help reduce soreness and further increase blood flow! 

Origin

Dry needling is a technique originally proposed by Doctors Janet Travell and David Simons in the early 1940s. They conducted experiments, injecting saline, corticosteroids and analgesics into trigger points to produce a reaction in the muscles. This new form of needling would soon be referred to as "wet needling," as treatment involved using a needle that injected liquid into the body.

In 1979 a Czech physician, Karel Lewit, discovered that it was really the needle itself and had nothing to do with the injection of liquids that helped to stimulate the healing process. Thus, "dry needling" was born! 

Interesting Note: Dr. Janet Travell actually became John F. Kennedy's attending White House Physician!

Dry Needling vs. Acupuncture

While dry needling and acupuncture use the same tool (the needle) there's a big difference in how they are used and the affects they have on the body. Dry needling is considered a "Western technique" with no historical ties to acupuncture, and treatment plans are based solely on the physical body and muscle groups. Acupuncture, an ancient Chinese technique, aims to influence energy along the body's "meridians" and consists more of energy work and manipulating "qi" (pronounced "chi") to influence how the person feels along with easing pain. While both have their place in medicine and are great ways to help with pain relief, they are quite different in terms of treatment plan and method of healing. 

Dry Needling and Massage

While both methods of pain relief used exclusively can yield fantastic results, using massage and dry needling together can help to speed up the healing process and make you feel more "rounded out" in terms of treatment. The needle in dry needling can get much deeper than massage can alone, and while deep tissue can feel great and produce the same results, it often takes longer and can make you feel sore when done for too long or too often. To put it simply, dry needling just adds some extra "oomph!" to your treatment! Massage and dry needling go very well together because the needle can help to release trigger points while massage can help increase blood flow, ease soreness, and even help you gain back flexibility to the injured area.

Controversy Surrounding Dry Needling

There is a lot of controversy surrounding dry needling even though it's been a standard practice for many years among physical therapists. Some say it's just a placebo affect, however many studies on dry needling have proven to actually be effective when done correctly even though they don't know exactly why it works, only that something dubbed "inflammatory mediators" are dissipated through the needling process. This has been the case throughout history though; way back before we had Aspirin, people used to chew on willow bark to help alleviate pain. It wasn't until many years later that they discovered that the acetylsalicylic acid found in the willow bark was what relieved pain, and were able to use that to create Aspirin. 

Even though dry needling is thought of as not being the same as traditional Chinese acupuncture, many people don't see the difference between the two despite the extensive research that has gone into both. However, there are still those who don't see how it works or the value of the process and write it off as merely a placebo effect. If you've ever had either done, you know that that's not true at all! 

Let's also consider the fact that massage was thought for a long time in "Western culture" to just be something "nice" for yourself and didn't really have any positive affect on the body other than feeling good. We now know that this isn't true and many physical therapists will recommend medical massage therapy after a traumatic accident (car crash, sports injury) to help with pain and increase blood flow to affected areas. 

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Hopefully this answered your questions on what dry needling is and the benefits of having it done. It is a fast growing practice as more people try it out for themselves to help with chronic pain and nerve dysfunction. While we do not offer it here at Massage La Mesa, we will happily refer you to someone who does! What would you like to learn about next?

Contact us at: 619-917-4675 OR  massagelamesa@gmail.com 

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