You may have heard of a treatment called “dry needling” and been curious about what it is and if it could help you. We all agree that the idea of lying on a table while tiny needles poke you sounds like a horrible thing to go through. But more and more people, including athletes and people with injuries or chronic pain, swear by its ability to help with intense muscle pain and mobility problems. Even though the name of the procedure sounds scary, dry needling is safe, doesn’t hurt very much, and is often helpful for people with certain musculoskeletal problems. Let’s talk about how it helps you get rid of that pain that just won’t go away. But first, let’s talk about when dry needling is a good idea.
When Should You Give Dry Needling A Try?
If you have the problems mentioned below, you should probably consider dry needling:
• Hip pain
• Neck pain
• Knee pain
• Shoulder pain
• Lower back pain
• Myofascial pain
How Does It Help?
It Loosens Up Your Tense Muscles.
You probably often feel pain in the form of a stiff or knotted up muscle. It happens when the fibers in your muscles tighten and don’t go back to their normal state. Knots and stiffness are often caused by stress, an injury, a pinched nerve, or something else wrong with your body. Dry needling helps release this tension from your muscles, alleviating the pain and helping patients relax.
Get Back Your Flexibility
Tight, painful muscles are one of the few things that keep you from moving. If you have a lot of tension around your trigger points, it may be very hard to move around. When you don’t use your muscles, they get weaker and lose mass. Dry needling helps patients in moving more flexibly which enables the muscles to become stronger.
Boosts Muscle Healing
When you get hurt, the hardest and longest part is getting better. Yes, some injuries take longer to heal than others, but we all want to get back to full strength as soon as possible. With dry needling, muscles tend to heal quicker and get back in their normal form in less time.
Blood Flow Goes Up
In dry needling therapy, the needles can also help bring more blood to the area being treated. This can speed up the healing process and help with other things, for instance reducing inflammation.
Refreshes Your Body
This is where the “function” part of “Functional Dry Needling” comes into play. Dry needling can be like hitting the “Reset” button for our muscles and nervous system, giving us time to re-learn or re-establish better ways to move or use our muscles.
Briefly,
Dry needling can turn out to be an extremely beneficial treatment for anyone suffering with muscle pain. Although after the treatment your muscles might hurt more temporarily, but it’s important to keep moving. This is normal, and it could last anywhere from 24 to 48 hours. You might see some bruises around the area that was treated however it’s only a matter of days till you can move around more seamlessly after the treatment.