Dry Needling 101
Dry needling is a technique we perform here at Loon State Physical Therapy to reduce pain and improve tissue extensibility. It’s a technique that you’ve heard your gym friends or neighbors talk about before, or you heard about it online once. But why does this technique work? Let’s dive into a few benefits of dry needling and a 10,000 ft view of how it works.
Benefits of Dry Needling
Pain Modulation: between direct muscle changes and central nervous system (brain) changes, dry needling targets both to help calm down painful tissues but also improves the brain's ability to react or not react to the current pain
Neuromuscular Benefit: dry needling can improve the thickness of a muscle during a muscle contraction, decrease resting “noise” of a muscle (ie muscle feels more relaxed)
Hemodynamics & Autonomic Responses: improved blood flow to both targeted and surrounding tissues to improve tissue healing and dilute localized inflammation
How does it work?
The needle interacts with the muscle, which sends a signal to the brain (via spinal cord) and the brain then knows something is interacting with a muscle that may be painful or has reduced function. The brain can then send a “reset” type signal back to the muscle that is targeted.
Pump it up a notch!
We like to utilize electrical stimulation (e-stim) attached to the needles to further improve the benefits listed above. This also reduces post-treamtent soreness that can be more common in a “piston only technique”.
E-stim also increases the blood flow by contracting the muscles which creates a “pump” mechanism. Reduce swelling in a localized tissue is also a reason to use dry needling with e-stim around an affected area.
Dry needling + E-stim is a great tactic for both pain and also recovery from training, competitions, and soreness.
Dry needling is a strong tool in our tool box here. Adding this with our love for load and creating a fitness forward approach to care will take you a long way.
Interested in knowing more about physical therapy and how dry needling could help? Our physical therapy team in Minneapolis, Minnetonka/Hopkins, and Stillwater are ready to help the current you while also helping the future you in the process.
We would be happy to discuss further how Loon State Physical Therapy can be a teammate in getting you back to moving and feeling your best! Our convenient Minneapolis physical therapy, Edina physical therapy, Hopkins physical therapy, and Stillwater physical therapy locations will happily welcome you to get you back to moving at your best. Call us at (612) 405-8503 or book with us online at www.loonstatephysicaltherapy.com for an in-person or virtual appointment.
