Looking for Dry Needling on the South Coast?

What is Dry Needling and how does it work?

Dry Needling is a treatment technique used by physiotherapists to primarily reduce pain and restore muscle function. Some physiotherapists use dry needling as an adjunct to other treatment by using their anatomical knowledge and clinical reasoning skills to determine if dry needling is appropriate for your specific injury.

Dry needling uses very fine, sterile needles (acupuncture needles) inserted into tissues to create neurophysiological reactions in the body and stimulate the desired healing effect.

Unlike Traditional Acupuncture where needles are inserted along the meridians of the body to restore the body’s energy flow systems, in Dry Needling the needles are inserted into the centre of a myofascial trigger point (MTrP). This is an hyperirritable spot in the skeletal muscle which is often associated with a hypersensitive palpable nodule in a muscle (a ‘knot’). When the needle is inserted into the MTrP it causes a cascade of events including the release of chemicals in the body which stimulates the nerve fibres in the surrounding area. During the technique you may feel a ‘twitch’ response from the muscle.

Depending on the specific points chosen and the technique used, the release of these chemicals stimulated from dry needling can produce many positive effects.

These can include:

Releasing ‘tight’ muscles / improved range of movement
Relaxing muscle spasm
Increase blood flow to the area
Improving muscle function
Decreasing local muscular pain
Assisting with pain relief
Managing inflammation
Improved local immune and healing responses

Ultimately, dry needling allows for a period of reduced pain so other underlying causes of the injury/pain can be addressed with your Physiotherapist/ Exercise Physiologist.