Dry needling is a safe and effective technique often used by physical therapists to help reduce muscle tension, promote blood flow, and decrease pain. It has helped many people improve their symptoms and return to their activities, pain-free and without limitations.

Dry needling uses a thin, sterile needle to target specific points in muscles, joints, and ligaments. While the needles used for dry needling are the same as the acupuncture needles, these two healing techniques are not the same. Acupuncture is based from traditional Chinese medicine practices to help the flow of energy (qi) within meridians, while dry needling uses Westernized principles to help promote the body's natural healing response in tissues.

Evidence-based research continues to show dry needling to be beneficial in many orthopedic, chronic, and neuromuscular conditions. Utilizing electrical stimulation alongside the needles has shown to promote even greater healing properties to help with pain relief, decreasing inflammation, stimulating blood flow, and improving sleep.

For the best results, we recommend dry needling to be used in combination with physical therapy. While dry needling may help with symptom relief, physical therapy allows us to address the root cause of the condition. It is important to follow-up with manual therapy, strengthening exercises, stretches and mobility movements, and patient education after dry needling.