Hi I just wanted to ask if anyone has had Dry needling to repair muscles or trigger points etc…
is it the same as accupuncture?
I have had acupuncture but this seams to go a little deeper, have you had it?
Been using it for the past month in conjunction with graston and dedicated PT to fix a hamstring tendonosis issue.
We’ve done some tests where we check flexibility of the muscles, then do the dry needling, then test again and it is amazing the difference it makes. Great for trigger point release and issues where you want to stimulate healing. That said, I have one major caveat.
I’ve tried chiro, ARP Wave therapy, prolotherapy, rolfing, massage and stim to fix this problem. I have had little or no success until I found someone that does the treatment in conjunction with therapy to fix the muscular imbalance/posture issues that caused the problem in the first place. He happens to do dry needling/graston, but I suspect that the other methods may also work in conjunction with the therapy. By therapy, I mean someone that is familiar with athletes and has 1:1 attention or close to it. I have tried your typical couch potato PT and it is a waste of time. Like most things, the practitioner is more important than the type of therapy.
The key is, the therapy will reduce the symptoms, but it will just come back. You need to fix the problem. Hope that makes sense.
Great, thanks for your reply.
Yes I’ve used it.
I’ve had excellent response and would recommend it highly.
It’s a pretty intense experience and you will be pretty sore for a day or two afterward but it has always helped me if not cleared things up completely in one session. Hopefully it will work as well for you.
Yes, I’ve had it and I loved it. Last summer I had a few sessions on my calf.
There was a good 18-24 hour period of soreness, but some good stretching and after a day was gone. It definitely helped me.
Do you have specific questions?
This might help a bit
http://velonews.competitor.com/2011/01/news/training-center-explaining-dry-needle-therapy_154593
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Used it last year for some calf heart attacks - where my calf would cramp after 20 minutes of running. ART didn’t seem to work but needling did. This winter my hamstring seems to knot after 30 minutes of running - dry needling has helped and I’m back to running. My wife used it for achilles tendonituos and it worked.
Sort of like going to the dentist when they touch the nerve. Not too bad but it makes your muscle twitch. Sore for a day.
Not sure it its treating the underlying problem why my hamistring continues to knot but the results have been good.
worked for my calf problem. in the hands of skilled PT, it’s a good thing.
Interesting, have not noticed any post-session soreness or “dentist” pain. Some referral pain on occasion but light. If they hit a nerve, they generally put it in the wrong place.
YMMV
I might be wrong, but I thought the process was to hit the nerve to get the muscle to quickly contract then release. Seems like he puts the needle in and moves it around until he gets a good response, which is a “twitch” like feel, sort of like a small electical shock or zap. on the pain scale its probably a two. Mild discomfort but the next day I do have some muscle soreness.
I might be wrong, but I thought the process was to hit the nerve to get the muscle to quickly contract then release. Seems like he puts the needle in and moves it around until he gets a good response, which is a “twitch” like feel, sort of like a small electical shock or zap. on the pain scale its probably a two. Mild discomfort but the next day I do have some muscle soreness.
I believe you are correct, though maybe substitute “nerve” for “trigger point”. Not sure if there is a difference. I would agree on the 2 on the pain scale unless they really poke a nerve which is rare, and he usually withdraws immediately. I think there are also many different schools of thought on this, so likely we all have experienced different techniques.
My soreness might be eliminated by the scraping that follows. Sort of like getting stung by a bee then getting hit with a baseball bat in the same place. You probably don’t care about the bee sting anymore… Good times.
noticed you used prolo and were from chicago area…did hauser do your prolo and have you ever used prolo for any other issues, if so, what do you think? i am interested in it for my back ligaments and his website and book seem pretty promising for a myriad of issues. thanks in advance
noticed you used prolo and were from chicago area…did hauser do your prolo and have you ever used prolo for any other issues, if so, what do you think? i am interested in it for my back ligaments and his website and book seem pretty promising for a myriad of issues. thanks in advance
I did use Dr Hauser, but only for this problem. My experience was mixed, but knowing what I do now, I may have had better luck. He is definitely the leader in this field, so I cannot fault his talent here. I believe the main issue is that while the prolo may help the symptoms (tendonosis in my case), it does not fix what is causing it, and therefore the treatment will ultimately fail.
His treatment needs to be done in conjunction with therapy that fixes the muscle imbalance/injury/weakness/whatever that caused the problem in the first place. This is not mentioned or recommended by them which I feel is a mistake.
My only other issue is that it is EXPENSIVE, insurance doesn’t cover it, and I felt like they were using patients as guinea pigs to try and get insurance to accept it (they tell you to submit the claims knowing that they will be rejected. Assuming if they get enough of these things, they will accept it at some point)
Since you are in Chicago - I would highly recommend you see the therapist below. He did in 1 months what others could not in 2.5 years. I am leaving on Friday to ride for 8 days with unknown vertical feet of climbing. I could not conceive of this in December 2010.
Robbie Ohashi PT, DPT, OCS, ATC, CSCS
Performance Physical Therapy Manager
Athletes’ Performance at Attack Athletics
2641 West Harrison Street
Chicago, IL 60612
Phone: (773) 826-6104
Cell: (714) 625-2026
Fax: (773) 826-1180
rohashi@athletesperformance.com
www.athletesperformance.com
www.coreperformance.com
Located in Phoenix, AZ: Carson, CA: Gulf Breeze, FL: Frisco, TX
Yes, it was like magic, after a month of deep tissue for thigh muscle trauma (not the knee bruise the Orthoidiot diagnosed, thank you $500 MRI), PT brought out the needle, two days later, like there was never a problem. F’n magic I tell you. PT got a nice x-mas bonus from this happy patient.
Normally the difference between acupuncture and dry needling is the training of the practitioner. Acupuncture is normally only performed by someone skilled in chinese medicine and is tied to the energies in the body (chi, etc.). Dry needling as a technique is more similar to trigger point therapy where instead of a therapist using a thumb/elbow/etc. they use the needle. Much easier on the therapists body and usually gets very positive results for the patient as well.
I had dry needling performed as a part of weekly myotherapy treatments leading up to a big race and it definitely helped me recover more quickly from the little niggles as well as address a major hamstring issue a week prior to the race. It should normally feel like a trigger point therapy (with a slightly lower amount of “pain”) but fully agree with the other poster that for chronic pains it may not actually solve it until you fix the underlying cause.