What Is Dry Needling?

Dry needling treats problems in skeletal muscle and connective tissue. It targets trigger points, knotted, highly sensitive areas in your muscles. Trigger points can be near the location of your pain or cause referred pain affecting another part of your body.

Also known as intramuscular stimulation or trigger point dry needling, dry needling is typically just one aspect of a pain management plan.

Dry needling isn’t acupuncture, although there are some similarities. Both use thin needles inserted into specific points in the body to help reduce muscle tension and relieve pain. While an acupuncture practitioner aims to restore energy flow, your therapist uses dry needling to target muscle trigger points with the goal of relieving pain and restoring mobility.

How Dry Needling Works

When a muscle is injured or irritated, the muscle fibers may not get the blood supply carrying the oxygen and nutrients they need to return to a normal resting state. This causes tension and pain and may reduce your range of motion.

In dry needling, your therapist inserts a thin, sharp needle through the skin into your muscle to target these injured areas. The needle helps draw blood supply to the painful area, flushing it out and reducing muscle tension.

Physical therapists and other specialists who perform dry needling techniques may move the needle around slightly to try to get a quick spasm of the muscle, known as a local twitch response. This reaction can be a sign that the muscle is reacting properly to the treatment.

Who Benefits From Dry Needling?

Dry needling is an effective technique for treating acute and musculoskeletal pain caused by chronic conditions and rehabilitation from injury. When performed by a trained provider, there’s a very low risk of complications or side effects. The most common side effects of dry needling include minor soreness, stiffness or bruising at or near the insertion site.

Some of the conditions treated with dry needling include:

• Achilles tendinitis
• Biceps tendinitis
• Headaches
• Hip pain
• Iliotibial band syndrome
• Joint pain
• Low back pain
• Rotator cuff pain
• Spine and disk issues
• Shoulder pain
• Tennis elbow
• Whiplash or neck pain
• Muscle strains
• Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) pain

The effects can vary. While some people need several sessions to feel a change, others find their pain is relieved and their mobility improves right away.