dry needling
CURAVITA offers a wide range of physiotherapy healthcare services. If you have an injury or illness that is limiting your mobility, movement and quality of life, our team of highly-trained physiotherapists are here to help and provide you with a care plan, uniquely tailored to meet your needs and get you back in motion.
Dry needling has been around for a few decades. Dry refers to the fact the needles are solid, as compared to hypodermic injection needles which are called ‘wet’. A needle penetrates the skin and stimulates underlying myofascial trigger points, and muscular and connective tissues. Dry needling involves some ‘pistoning’ of the needle which means once the needle is inserted through the skin it’s moved into and out of the layers of soft tissue underneath. Sometimes there is temporary soreness afterwards. Benefits include the relief of muscle pain and stiffness, which can lead to improved range of motion, flexibility, and overall function. It can also stimulate the body’s healing response.
Dry needling has been shown to immediately increase pressure pain threshold and range of motion, decrease muscle tone and decrease pain in patients with musculoskeletal conditions. Its suggested mechanisms of action include:
Local Twitch Response: Dry needling can elicit a ‘local twitch response’ which is an involuntary spinal reflex resulting in a localized contraction of the affected muscles that are being dry-needled. Local twitch response can lead to alteration in the length and tension of muscle fibres and stimulate mechanoreceptors like A Beta fibres.
Effects on Blood Flow: Sustained contraction of taut muscle bands in trigger points might cause local ischemia and hypoxia. Dry needling causes vasodilation in the small blood vessels leading to increased muscle blood flow and oxygenation.
Neurophysiological effects: Dry needling may produce local and central nervous responses to restore hemostasis at the site of the trigger point which results in a reduction in both central and peripheral sensitization to pain.
Remote Effects: Dry needling of distal MTrP has been found to have an analgesic effect on proximal MTrP. The literature has conflicting evidence regarding the contralateral effect.