Dry Needling

Dry Needling Treatment

During a dry needling treatment, one or more thin, monofilament needles are inserted into a muscle trigger point. A trigger point is a local band of tight, irritable and dysfunctional muscle tissue. This often emerges because of injury, overuse or poor movement patterns.

Trigger points can disrupt your muscle function, restrict your range of motion or cause pain and tenderness. When dry needling is applied to an affected muscle or trigger point, it can decrease muscle tightness, increase blood flow and reduce pain. Patients often report immediate relief after treatment. The needles remain in your muscle for a short period of time — between 10 seconds and 20 minutes — during treatment. This depends on the treatment location, number of needles used and treatment goals.

Dry needling is a safe technique for treating many musculoskeletal conditions, including shoulder pain, rotator cuff pain, biceps tendinitis, iliotibial band syndrome, Achilles tendinitis, low back pain, tennis elbow, whiplash or neck pain, headaches, muscle strains, hip pain and temporomandibular pain, also called TMJ.