Accurate palpation is essential before dry needling.
Dry needling is an excellent adjunct to Osteopathic treatment as it can help release tension in certain areas faster, leading to quicker treatment results.
It’s important to note that dry needling is not for everyone.
It depends on what you present with as to whether or not we think it may actually benefit you or not. Quite frankly – some of my standard Osteopathic techniques work better than their dry needling “equivalent” (in my experience). So it’s good to COMBINE them – as I do think you get better results.
If I do think that Dry needling may be of benefit to you, I discuss all the reasons why it could be of benefit, and only with your consent do I then test out a small area to gauge your response.
I say this because there are a certain group of the population that just cannot stomach the idea of needles!
The needles themselves are so incredibly small – that most people can’t feel them.
The objective of Dry needling:
The objective is to reduce an area of muscle tension that is associated with “trigger points” which can contribute to pain in regions other than where the problem is. This is sometimes known as “referred pain”.
When a dry needle is inserted into these trigger points, the result can be a release of tension or a “twitch response” which most people report as really helping with the overall pain related to that trigger point.
There can be mild discomfort associated with the treatment for up to 24 hours afterwards, but this is generally no different to manual therapy anyway – and really is person specific.
There are different forms of Dry needling.
- Some types involve inserting multiple needles in multiple sites at the same time
- Some involve “twisting” a needle when it’s in there
- Some (lots) of practitioners don’t even use gloves…
My “style” of Dry needling is from “GEMT” – which I believe to be a world leader in the education of this approach.
When I apply a dry needle, it’s in for a reason, then OUT.
The needle NEVER stays in there unless I’m holding it.
Once I’ve got what I think is the desired outcome – the needle comes out & then I can go along with sorting out other structural issues you might have – whether they are directly related or not.
You still have to address the underlying cause of the original trigger point(s) – which may be initiated by any number of factors, however – the predominant cause I find is “postural”.
If dry needles are an ideal solution to your problem, it doesn’t mean that that’s the exact treatment you’ll get from me every time… You don’t use needles if there’s no “trigger point” to release. It makes no difference!
Hopefully thats’ enough information to get you started on either requesting dry needle treatment – or simply asking for more information about it.
Best Regards,
Chris