What Is Dry Needling?
Dry needling is a technique used to place needles in “trigger points” in your muscles which are areas of knotted or hard muscles that are highly sensitive to touch and cause pain with movement. These trigger points can be caused by:
- Poor posture
- Sustained or overused muscles from poor posture or repetitive movements
- Acute injury from sports or accidents
- Stress
Your provider can insert thin needles into or near your trigger points. The needles can then be attached to an electrical unit causing them to contract or twitch. This helps bring more blood supply to the area, bringing more oxygen and nutrients to help your muscle go back to its normal resting state.
Another reason, it can be helpful is the prick sensation in the area can stimulate nerve fibers that stimulate your brain to release endorphins which helps relieve pain. Dry needling can help you relieve your pain if you suffer from pain from trigger points in your muscle caused by poor posture, sports injury, accidental injuries, overuse injuries from repetitive movements, or stress.
Here's a short video showing the twitching of muscle using dry needling and a short explanation of the science behind that.
Contact Ishitani Health Center if you think this treatment can help improve your condition.
