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Dry Needling 101 💉

Casey Holt • August 2, 2020

Dry needling is a soft tissue therapy developed by physical therapists, and recently has entered the chiropractic realm.  If you’ve been in the office, you’ve probably heard me talk about it, or even have had it done.  In the eyes of many healthcare professionals, this IS the gold standard of soft tissue therapy.  Let’s break it down on what exactly dry needling is, how it works, and how it may help you!

Trigger point dry needling first off uses a solid, microfilament needle that is inserted directly into a muscular trigger point.  A trigger point is defined as a tight, tender band in the muscle that often sends referral pain elsewhere in the body.  These can be caused by repetitive overuse, traumas like strains/sprains, and simply poor posture.  When the needle is inserted into the trigger point, it actually causes minor tissue damage creating the tiny holes in the muscle.  However, this is a good thing!  This new damage will bring more oxygen to the over-contracted muscle, promoting more blood flow which is essential for timely healing.

Now lets go over some very common FAQ’s.

(Q)  Is trigger point dry needling different from acupuncture?

(A)  Yes.  Acupuncture is based on ancient Chinese medicine techniques, in which they use very non-objective placements of the needles using a meridian system… basically a map.  With dry needling, I am palpating with my hands on where the muscular trigger point is, and zeroing in on it to release it and restore normal tissue function.

(Q)  Is dry needling painful?

(A)  It may or may not be.  For many, it is just a “weird” sensation.  Some don’t feel it at all.  And for some, it can be very painful.  The responses differ for everybody, but the good news….it only lasts a few seconds.  And the effects of needling are very fast! 

(Q) Will I be sore after?

(A)  Again, this differs for many.  The most common response I see is that their muscle feels “tired” like they just got done working it out.  If you do encounter soreness, this usually only lasts 24-48 hours, and the muscle typically feels a lot more relaxed afterwards.

(Q) How many times does it take to work?

(A) This also depends on the person, and soft tissue injury.  In some instances, all it takes is one session.  Most commonly 3-4 treatments is what I see most to alleviate all tender trigger points.

(Q) What type of conditions is dry needling good for?

(A) Many!  Headaches, chronic postural syndrome, low back pain, achilles tendonitis, tennis elbow, strains/sprains, and plantar fasciitis very commonly produce trigger points and treated with dry needling.

I hope this was informative, and clears the air on what exactly trigger point dry needling is.  If you have further questions on dry needling, or if it is possibly right for you give us a call or send me an email and I would love to help.

As always…

Stay active.  Stay healthy.  Stay positive.

Pain Management Cornerstones

By Casey Holt • October 6, 2021
When it comes to pain, most people can relate to this: After about 2-3 weeks of progressively worsening pain, you begin to wonder if it’s something that you need to get checked out. Once you finally fold and head to your Primary Care or a physical medicine practitioner like a chiropractor or physical therapist the thing you want most is to find out WHY that pain is there… WHAT is causing it? To help get your answers imaging may be done: X-Ray, MRI Etc. or orthopedic testing to narrow down where the pain is coming from. Let’s say imaging is done and a report comes back stating you have “disk degeneration.” According to a study by Brinjikji et al., 2015, when assessing pain free populations with MRI’s 52% of 30 year olds and 88% of 60 year olds came back with this finding. Even more so, 30% of 20 year olds and about 40% of pain free 60 year olds showed disc herniations on MRI’s. In other words, while these do cause pain, they may not exactly be causing the pain you’re experiencing, and even if they are there are many other factors to pain that must be considered.

Pre-hab, Rehab, Training…

By Casey Holt • May 19, 2021
What’s the difference??

The Key to Losing Stubborn Fat

By Casey Holt • May 11, 2021
With a lot of patients, or clients interested in strength programming, I frequently get asked what the best exercise(s) is for losing fat at X, Y, or Z is. Take stubborn belly fat for example… the answer has to be crunches right?? No? No. Planks then?? Ehhh, nope.

TMJ Dysfunction

By Casey Holt • April 27, 2021
TMJD (temporomandibular joint dysfunction), or jaw pain is increasingly common in America. It is estimated that 10 million Americans experience jaw pain in their lifetime. Dentists even report that 8/10 patients report jaw pain or bruxism (night grinding).

Midback Mobility 🔓

By Casey Holt • August 25, 2020
Having sufficient mobility in your thoracic spine (midback) is key, for a lot of reasons. If you lose mobility in this region of the spine, the joints around it (shoulders and neck) have to work extra hard to make up for this loss of motion

The Benefits of Maintenance Care🔑

By Casey Holt • August 25, 2020
Maintenance care is a term that can be defined as healthcare directed towards maintaining optimal body function. In chiropractic, this would include following a regularly scheduled adjustment once every 2-4 weeks. Maintenance care is a type of preventative care that is recommended so that recurrences of painful episodes are lessened. Just a few benefits of maintenance care are as followed:

Golf and Low Back Pain

By Casey Holt • July 1, 2020
For our first blog of the summer, we’re talking back pain and golf! This is a very common thing I see in my clinic. Today we’ll address why back pain occurs when golfing, and the body-swing connection—how the different parts of the body are related to each part of the swing.

Jump Back to Exercise…Safely!

By Casey Holt • May 7, 2020
Back in Action 💪

Final Round 🥊

By Casey Holt • May 7, 2020
It’s time! In this week’s newsletter, we’re going 3rd and final round of our immune boosting series. So far we have covered some awesome tips on creating a diet built for success in the midst of COVID-19. However, your diet isn’t the only thing that can help create a healthy immune system. Incorporating the following health habits of exercising, adequate sleep, and dropping the cigarettes are three great ways to help your immune system function at its best!

Round two 🥊 Immunity in the midst of COVID

By Casey Holt • April 7, 2020
Good morning and happy Monday! I hope you all have had continued health, are stocked up on toilet paper, and that you were able to get outside and enjoy that beautiful spring weather!
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