4 Major Benefits of Dry Needling

By Your Health Magazine

Are you feeling achy and uncomfortable and in need of some relief? Well, dry needling may be exactly what you need! At first, you may think, “Why on Earth would I willingly have needles stuck into my skin?” But dry needling uses incredibly thin needles that you barely feel, and the results make it totally worth it. So, what could the benefits of sticking needles into your skin possibly be?

What is dry needling?

Dry needling is a physio treatment that involves placing sharp, thin and sterile needles onto specific tight points or trigger points of the body in order to alleviate tension and muscular pain. Instead of the needles being used to inject substances into your body, they’re solid and dry — hence the name dry needling. There are several dry-needling treatment options, each of which helps to deal with certain conditions and targets different parts of the body. They include:

Trigger point
Deep
Superficial
Periosteal pecking
Peripheral Neuromodulation
Electrical stimulation

How does dry needling work?

When a dry needle is placed into the body, it pierces through the skin right onto the myofascial trigger points. These trigger points are where muscular pain and tension typically occur. Dry needling stimulates the brain and helps alleviate irritation.

Is the dry needling painful?

When people hear needles, they often associate it with pain. However, dry needles are so sharp and thin that most patients don’t even know they’re in yet. You might feel some pain as the needle enters your body, but it’ll be quick and painless, very much like getting a shot.

What are some benefits of dry needling?

Here are the benefits of using these different treatments:

It assists in reducing pain in several areas of the body

Dry needling has successfully reduced pain in multiple body parts, including the hips, neck, knees, shoulders, lower back, and any myofascial pain you may experience.

A solution for headaches and migraines

Have you ever heard someone say that you should pinch yourself or squeeze the pressure point between your pointer finger and thumb to get rid of a migraine? Well, the idea here is that you’d trick your brain into focusing on the pain instead, thus alleviating the migraine. Dry needling has a similar effect and is proven to help with migraine headaches. By soothing and releasing certain trigger points, dry needling can effectively help reduce the pressure build-up caused by headaches and reduce its effects.

Reduces muscle tension

Over time, our muscles can get tense for multiple reasons, like stress, both emotionally and physically. Dry needling treatment can release tension in your muscles, offering you a soothing feeling and possibly alleviating any tension-related pain in those areas, too.

Increases recovery time

When muscles become tense, they can constrict important blood vessels and reduce the effectiveness of your circulatory system. Thus, dry needling can reduce the tension in your muscles and improve your blood flow, which has several benefits in itself. For example, the larger the volume of blood that reaches your muscles, the more nutrients they’ll receive, subsequently improving muscle recovery at the same time.

How long is the recovery time?

After attending a dry needling session, feeling sore for a while is normal. Considering you had a few needles put into your body, this is understandable. Generally, muscle soreness is relieved immediately after treatment, and only the pain from the needle remains. Sometimes, it may take a day or two for the pain to subside. The more often you go for the treatment, the longer the pain will take to recover.

Are there any side effects?

Dry needling is a pretty safe procedure, and its benefits far outweigh its side effects, which are nothing to be concerned about. Generally, side effects of dry needling include soreness that’ll subside in a day or two around the injected area, bruising, bleeding, and fatigue after the session. In rare cases, patients who faint at the sight of blood or have an extremely low pain threshold may feel faint, dizzy, or nauseous.

Final Thoughts

With chronic muscular pain, you know you need to be stronger for months at a time. Nowadays, a treatment like dry needling can help alleviate the pain by lowering muscle tension and increasing blood flow in hurt areas, improving your recovery time.