Myofascial Dry Needling

Phillip Henderson, Faye Todd, and Gerard Bourke  offer  Myofascial Dry Needling (MDN) which along with normal muscular skeletal therapy, this modality can achieve faster and longer term results.  MDN allows the advantage of being able to reach deeper painful parts of muscles that cannot be reached through other forms of therapy.

The practice of ‘dry needling’ involves the safe insertion of a sterile acupuncture needle/s into a trigger point with repetitive manipulation. It is typically used to treat the pain associated with injuries or areas of general pain. A trigger point is a tender spot in a tight band of muscle which causes pain when pressed often felt as a “knot”.

The purpose of this technique is to inactivate the myofascial trigger points by producing a local twitch response. This local twitch response then releases the shortened bands of muscle fibres. The result is muscle relaxation and pain relief. Eliciting this local twitch response is a “good thing” and key for successful deactivation of the trigger point.  Inactivation of the trigger points can bring immediate relief of symptoms.

Dry Needling must not be confused with any type of acupuncture (which is founded in Traditional Chinese Medicine). Dry Needling is based on Western anatomical and physiological principles. It is founded by scientific concepts and it continues to evolve using the latest research.

Reference:

Stewart Condie 2014 Myofascial Dry Needling