Relieve Muscular Pain with Dry Needling

Superior Physical Therapy offers trigger point dry needling treatment to help patients relieve muscular pain and stiffness.

In this approach, local contractures or trigger points are stimulated by tiny monofilament needles to decrease pain, enhance mobility, and restore function.

Superior Physical Therapy offers dry needling to patients experiencing muscular tension and spasms. Unlike most treatments, dry needling offers a faster, safer, and virtually painless method to minimize pain and address musculoskeletal presentations.

Trigger point dry needling (TDN) is an effective treatment for various musculoskeletal conditions, including neck pain, knee pain, lower back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, shoulder impingement, and tennis elbow.

Tight bands within the muscle can trigger pain locally or move pain further away, resulting in discomfort and loss of mobility. During TDN, a small monofilament needle is inserted into one or more muscles to minimize trigger point activity, release taut bands, and decrease muscle tension.

Many people mistake TDN as traditional Chinese acupuncture since both methods involve the insertion of thin needles into specific parts of the body.

Their main difference is that during acupuncture treatment, needles are inserted into points along meridian lines that represent the body’s organs and are based on traditional Chinese medicine.

In dry needling, needles are inserted into trigger points to help boost local blood flow, stimulate the autonomic nervous system, and restore muscle activation and strength.

TDN uses sterile, single-use, extremely thin needles which are inserted into the tight muscle band. It is called “dry needling” since there is no medication injected into the body.

TDN is most effective if performed 1-2 times a week in 3-4 treatment sessions. That being said, the required number of treatment sessions will depend on the diagnosis and degree of impairment.

Needles may be administered deeply or superficially, for shorter or longer periods of time, depending on the condition being treated and how long it has lasted.

At Superior Physical Therapy, we follow OSHA standards and use protective equipment at all times. The treatment area is first cleaned using alcohol swabs. Our highly trained therapists use individually packaged, sterile, single-use needles to ensure a safe and hygienic TDN procedure.