What is Dry Needling?

What is dry needling?

Dry needling is where we insert a thin, single-use and sterile needle into trigger point in a muscle. The trigger points are the knots that you feel in a muscle from muscle tension. Things like overuse, strain from injury or stress can lead to these knots forming in your muscles.

Dry needling can help to relieve muscle tension from tight and fatigued muscles by the getting the knot to relax. Some patients report feeling a deeper release than standard massage and the effects provide longer lasting relief for their symptoms.

How does it work?

Dry needling works to relieve pain but causing the muscle to relax. Some of the suggested mechanisms are:

• Local Twitch Response - The stimulation of the trigger point by the needle can cause an involuntary contraction of the muscle which we see as a twitch. This can act like a reset for the neurological connection to the brain and allow that muscle to relax to its normal resting length.

• Increased Blood Flow - When we insert the needle into the trigger point, we cause a tiny amount of micro-trauma to the tissue. This helps to stimulate the body’s natural healing response and vasodilation occurs so fresh blood delivering fresh nutrients and oxygen to the muscle for optimised function

• Drainage of cell metabolites - When a knot forms in a muscle, we can get a build up of cell metabolites like acetylcholine and other cell waste such as carbon dioxide. The can build up in the area cause local irritation. When we relax the muscle it allows fresh blood to flow in and nourish the muscle and drain away the build up of irritants and cell waste.

Does it hurt?

Some people love the sensation of dry needling, others find it a little sore. When we use a needle to stimulate a trigger point, we want to see a twitch response to indicate that we have found an active trigger point. The twitch response is a muscle spasm. Some people find this spasming sore but it’s a great indicator that we’re in the right spot. Most people find that the small amount of pain from dry needling is worth the result of getting a deeper muscular relaxation that standard massage can’t achieve. It’s normal and expected to feel some soreness after dry needling.

What are the risks?

When done with correct technique, dry needling is a safe and effective way to reduce muscle tension. During our training, we are taught to use our extensive anatomy knowledge to identify boney landmarks that show us exactly where to safely place the needle and the areas to avoid. All Osteopaths at Elevate Osteopathy have undertaken formal training to obtain qualifications to be able to practice dry needling in the clinic. Areas that we avoid are organs, blood vessels and nerve as these are sensitive structures and we do not want to damage them with the needle. All needles are single-use and disposed of immediately into a sharps bin.

How do I get dry needling?

Both Dr. Ellen Black - Osteopath and Dr. Rory Richardson - Osteopath are fully qualified to practice dry needling. Simply book an appointment online today. You do not need any special referral to have dry needling done.

We are located at 10B/49 Cedric Street, Stirling 6022 WA.