In acupuncture, the needles are placed in areas corresponding with energy points in the body that when pricked, according to traditional acupuncture practice, improve energy flow and reduce pain. Though both use a similar tool in the form of very thin solid needles, dry needling is a musculoskeletal treatment that places needles in muscle trigger points to restore function and reduce pain.
Cyr is quick to point out they are very different. Some might think this sounds a lot like acupuncture. Some believe it may also increase blood flow or spark nerve responses that change how a person registers pain, according to hospital officials. “When you get the twitch response,” she said, “science has shown that will change the biochemical makeup of that trigger point to make it much less irritable.” Cyr said dry needling releases muscle tension, by causing tight muscles to twitch – or cramp – and then relax. To release these knots, dry needling practitioners insert the needle in the trigger point and then move the needled in an up-and-down “pistoning” motion. These trigger points are tender to the touch and can also cause pain that spreads to other parts of the body, called referred pain. There is no medication in the needle, hence it is referred to as “dry.”Īs for trigger points, that’s simply the tight painful knots that form when muscles are injured, or strained from repetitive motion. Myofascial pain occurs in the muscle, and the connective tissue surrounding it.
The process involves inserting very fine needles – similar to long straight pins – through the skin and into the muscle trigger points to treat what is called myofascial pain. Physical therapist Holly Cyr, clinical manager of Rehabilitation Services, said that earlier this year physical therapists at Southern New Hampshire Medical Center in Nashua were trained to offer a new service – dry needling – intended to treat pain and improve movement and range of motion. The idea of jabbing needles into a shoulder knot may not sound like a good idea, but the practice can actually offer long term release to muscle pain and even migraine headaches. Once the needle is inserted, the physical therapist will move the needle up and down, like a piston, into the muscle.) (A dry needle is inserted into a trigger point.
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