What is it?
Dry Needling is a treatment technique using a sterile fine needle (acupuncture needle). And is used in conjunction with Physiotherapy. Following injury or pain, muscles tend to develop trigger points – usually consisting of a small band of muscle which feels knotty. It is sometimes painful when touched, but the pain is often referred to another area of the body. Our physiotherapists use super-fine dry needles to help alleviate the trigger point and relax the muscle tissue.
What's the Difference between Dry Needling and Acupuncture?
Dry needling involves insertion of needles into myofascial trigger points to deactivate and help resolve trigger points whereas acupuncture involves insertion in needles into specific energy meridians in order to achieve a desired result.
What can it help?
Dry needling can help many problems such as painful trigger points in muscles, acute swelling after injury, as well as muscle spasm and tightness.
Dry needling can also help stimulate healing in the injured tissues and headache referral from tight muscles.
How does it work?
Dry needling works on the pain-gate theory – where only one pain message can be recieved by the brain from one area at only on time. Normal slow dull aching messages form an injury can be ínterecepted’ by the needle message.
It helps reduce localised swelling, improves natural anti-inflammatory response and tissue re-modelling, as well as improves the alignment of connective tissue and scar tissue breakdown. With trigger points, needling into the trigger point will reduce the spasm and relieve not only the local pain but also the referred pain.