This week's question
I hear you are going to start offering dry needling. What is that? What does it do?
My answer - Dry needling is a technique used to decrease muscular and neural tension in the body using a very small diameter needle without the use of medication. While dry needling is different than acupuncture, the needles used are the same type.
Dry needling involves inserting a needle at various depths along 3 different types of areas to decrease pain and normalize tension.
The 3 types of areas are
-homeostatic points - these are areas in the body that tend to hold inflammation and pain and needling them can normalize tension and inflammation
-symptomatic points - these points are where a patient feels pain, tension or discomfort which can be reduced by needling.
-peripheral neural points - as we know, all nerves start from the spine. Tracing a painful area in the limbs back along the nerve towards the spine can help to find a root cause point for the pain. needling this area can help to decrease that pain, without even touching the painful point.
Overall, dry needling can reduce pain, inflammation, and tension while stimulating a healing response by increasing blood flow to the area.
I began using this technique in 2016 with a great response in people with both acute and chronic pain. New Jersey recently re-approved this technique in the physical therapy practice act so I am excited to begin offering it to both current patients and others seeking a new technique for pain relief!
Email us at info@perfecttenpt.com to learn more and to see if this technique would be beneficial for you!