{"id":2444,"date":"2019-10-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-10-13T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/live-ati-pt-2025.pantheonsite.io\/?p=2444"},"modified":"2024-12-17T17:34:49","modified_gmt":"2024-12-17T17:34:49","slug":"dry-needling-and-physical-therapy-whats-the-point","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.atipt.com\/dry-needling-and-physical-therapy-whats-the-point\/","title":{"rendered":"Dry Needling and Physical Therapy: What\u2019s the Point?"},"content":{"rendered":"

ontributions by: Andrew Grahovec and Megan Teeters, PT, DPT<\/em><\/p>\n

Pain and tightness is a common ailment that many people suffer from. It can cause restrictions in your daily movements and activities, and worse, cause even more physical problems in the future. Living with pain and discomfort is never easy. Luckily, there are treatments available to you to have alleviate the pain at your nearest ATI Physical Therapy. One of the most recent practices that has grown in popularity is dry needling, and thanks to research, it plays an important role in relieving post-surgery pain.<\/p>\n

How dry needling can help<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n

Dry needling is a technique used by physical therapists to decrease myofascial adhesions and muscular pain. By inserting a solid filament needle into the muscle where a trigger point is located, it helps release that trigger point or adhesions, decreasing tightness and pain caused by the muscular restrictions. The goal is to restore normal and pain-free motion. The needle is inserted and positioned to get a twitch response, which causes the trigger point to release. Soreness and bruising may occur, but once those resolve, the muscle feels more relaxed and less pain is experienced.<\/p>\n

Dry needling vs. acupuncture<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n

Different than dry needling, acupuncture is an eastern medicine approach to overall health and prevention of disease. Needles are used to move energy \u201cchi\u201d to restore health, which is where the similarities begin to dissipate. Dry needling involves inserting needles into soft tissues with the aim of decreasing muscle tissue tension and improving musculoskeletal function, rather than acupuncture, which uses needles to manipulate the balance and flow of the body\u2019s energy, producing its own pain-relieving endorphins.<\/p>\n

Dry Needling Benefits<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n

Outside of post-surgery care, dry needling physical therapy is also beneficial to many patients, including those with:<\/p>\n