Dry needling is a modern treatment performed by qualified and professional physiotherapy experts, chiropractors, and other doctors certified in practising the technique to alleviate and recover musculoskeletal pain and movement issues.
The name comes from the nature of the treatment, which uses actual needles with no liquids, non-invasively inserted into your body. The needles are pierced into and under your skin to the affected, tension-tight, inflamed areas of the body or trigger points. This is a commonly painless procedure, and your body, especially the muscle fibers, will naturally respond to the treatment with a sudden spastic twitch response.
What many don’t know about this unique procedure is that it is versatile and can treat many different types of pain. This article will list some common pains you didn’t know dry needling could help.
Sciatica
This condition occurs when the sciatic nerve that runs from your back through your legs is injured, pulled, or impacted. Sciatica can be caused by many factors, including the narrowing of the spine caused by lumbar stenosis and the tightened muscles caused by piriformis syndrome.
With the help of dry needling a therapist or other qualified professional from a wellness centre can identify the impacted areas and insert a needle around the area of narrowing or trigger points. The air from these dry needles and its stimulation can widen the narrowed spacing or tightened muscles, thereby greatly reducing the resulting pain from the condition.
Neck Pain
When we feel stressed, we often tend to hold our neck and head rigidly, which can easily result in the formation of muscle knots or highly sensitive trigger points. This pain in the neck can radiate into the head, down to the back, and even go all the way to the upper extremities.
In most neck pain cases, these knots can be quickly spotted and palpated accordingly. Depending on the severity of the neck pain, a therapist can use one or several needles to target the area where the stress and neck pain has accumulated. The procedure releases the trigger points, giving relief as the pain fades away.
Headaches and Migraines
Some types of headaches and migraines occur from overstimulated body parts. They mainly occur because trigger points become overly sensitive, such as in the base of the skull, neck region, or top of the shoulders. These sensitive areas can be caused due to stress or postural issues tightening muscles and forming knots.
The pressure from these areas radiates into the head and the skull region causing painful headaches or migraines. Dry needling helps to relax and loosen the areas where the pain originates. This relaxing mechanism is just about the same way how dry needling works to treat anxiety disorder and stress.
Shoulder Pain
Shoulder areas are prone to pressure, stress, and related pain because of how we wear backpacks, bags, and purses, react to stressful situations, adapt postures, and carry children in some cases. The pain from this region can easily travel to other body parts by radiating through the nerves. Dry needling can help to release this pain as well.
Joint Pain
We get joint pains because of repetitive motions and other acute injuries. Joint pains can occur anywhere from shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees, and ankles. Using dry needling in these painful regions surrounding the joints can help to relax the muscles after overuse or injury and thereby regain their normal levels of elasticity. This then makes it easy to reduce pain and resume normal activities without movement restrictions.
