Dry Needling

What is Dry Needling?

Dry Needling is a technique used by physiotherapists to treat pain caused by muscle tension and/or nerves. It involves the placement of a needle into a trigger point.

A trigger point is a point within the muscle that can be painful to touch and produce pain around the area. These trigger points may be too deep to be treated by other treatment methods and by using needles, the treatment is far less painful.

What type of problems can be treated?

Evidence for dry needling use in Physiotherapy has increased substantially over the past decade. Research supports the treatment of acute and chronic back pain, chronic neck pain, tension and migraine headaches, pelvic girdle pain, knee osteoarthritis, lateral elbow pain, and shoulder conditions.

It can be used for a variety of musculoskeletal problems. Some of the common conditions include:

• sore or stiff neck
• back and shoulder pain
• arm pain (tennis elbow, carpal tunnel)
• tension headaches
• jaw pain
• leg pain (sciatica, hamstrings strains, calf tightness/spasms)

Dry Needling is just one piece of the puzzle and we use it with a combination of manual therapy treatment. We may incorporate this into your Physiotherapy treatment if required.

We do not charge extra for this treatment and we only use the highest quality, sterile, surgical steel needles.

Dry Needling vs Acupuncture

Traditional Chinese Acupuncture is different from Dry Needling. Both methods insert a needle into the tissue, however, there is a difference in the overall goal of the treatment.

Traditional Chinese Acupuncture involves inserting needles along a meridian based on Eastern Medicine principles. It is often used to re-establish chi, or life energy, back into the body, whereas Dry Needling involves a neuromuscular approach. This is where the needle is inserted into the muscle in order to decrease pain and restore function.