Trigger point dry needling

Myofascial trigger points constitute one of the most common musculoskeletal pain conditions. Pain elicited by myofascial trigger points constitutes a separate and independent cause of acute and especially chronic pain that may compound the symptoms of other conditions and persist long after the original initiating condition has been resolved. Muscles feature many types of nociceptors, which can be activated by a variety of mechanical and chemical means. Trigger point dry needling is an effective therapy to treat muscular tension and spasm which commonly accompanies conditions such as arthritis, nerve irritation, muscular strain, ligament strains, and herniated discs.

Trigger point dry needling is the insertion of sterile surgical stainless-steel dry, fine needles into muscles to release painful myofascial trigger points. The term “dry” refers to the fact that no injectable drugs such as procaine, lidocaine, or other local anesthetics are injected into the tissues during this procedure. Static and dynamic techniques are used. Using the static technique, the needle inserted to the required depth is left in the muscle for a certain time. The needle may be rotated to induce mechanical stress on the fascia or myofascia. The dynamic technique involves a relatively slow but deliberate steady lancing motion in and out of the muscle. After a dry needling session, very minor side effects are possible: minor bruising, bleeding, temporary pain at the needling site, temporary worsening of symptoms.

Dry needling is not a traditional Chinese medicine treatment method. Dry needling or Western medical acupuncture is a modern scientific approach to therapy involving dry needling of tissues that has been developed from the introduction and evaluation of traditional Chinese acupuncture techniques in the West using current knowledge of anatomy, physiology, and pathology, and the principles of evidence-based medicine.