Four Benefits of Dry Needling

Dry Needling is a therapeutic treatment in which a trained, certified therapist inserts a small, sterile, microfilament needle directly into a myofascial trigger point in the muscle.  This helps release muscle tension and pain, boosts blood flow, diminishes inflammation, and prompts a healing response.

Read on for the top four benefits of dry needling:

Get fast pain relief

Most people associate trigger points with knotted muscles in their shoulder, upper back, and neck.  But these “knots” can arise in any part of your body
and be associated with many conditions, from low back and sciatica to headaches and overuse injuries. Your pain improves as the knot relaxes and blood flow improves. Better circulation means that painful, acidic wastes get carried away while your muscles receive the oxygen and nutrients they need to heal.

Regain your range of motion

Few things stop you from moving like tight, painful muscles.  If you have multiple trigger points, you may experience severely limited mobility.  And when you’re not active, your muscles weaken and lose mass. Our physical and occupational therapists include dry needling in your comprehensive therapy program to restore your range of motion and rebuild your strength.  Clinically, we see improved muscle length, flexibility, strength and a corresponding decrease in pain with our patients following dry needling treatments.  Therapy further helps retrain your muscles, and this helps to prevent future trigger points.

Accelerate your recovery

Whether you suffered an injury or had surgery, moving your body is the best way to promote healing and speed up your recovery. Physical or Occupational therapy will set you up with an individualized plan specific to your recovery and adding dry needling to this therapy plan can accelerate the healing process.

Improve chronic pain conditions

Dry needling is a non-medicated treatment that goes a long way toward easing chronic pain conditions such as myofascial pain syndrome, migraines, and fibromyalgia. Dry needling improves nerve communication and activates the release of your body’s natural pain relievers. Many chronic pain conditions can be successfully treated in conjunction with other therapies such as stretching, strengthening, and re-educating muscle movement patterns.

Many patients experience an immediate reduction in local and widespread pain after one dry needling session.  Others may need several sessions to achieve optimum pain relief.  Your treatment plan depends on the severity and number of trigger points.

For more information about dry needling services offered at West Texas Rehabilitation Center, please contact our Adult Therapy departments at San Angelo (325-223-6300) or Abilene (325-793-3400).