Here at our two Endurance Rehabilitation locations in Scottsdale and Phoenix, your physical therapist may possibly recommend dry needling therapy for cases of tight, painful trigger points and muscle soreness. For a lot of our patients, this is the first time they’ve ever heard about dry needling. Although it may sound a bit prickly at first, it’s a great way to get some natural pain relief, so here are three things you should know about it:

1. What Dry Needling Is

Dry needling is a drug-free pain relief technique that helps release sore, tight spots in muscles. Our specially-trained physical therapist will insert extremely thin, sterile, FDA-approved filament needles directly into tight knots of muscle or fascia called “trigger points”. Those sore spots are then worked gently by your physical therapist using the needle until they “release”. This enables better circulation to heal those spots, which improves movement, healing, and sensation in those areas.

2. What Dry Needling Isn’t

Dry needling is not acupuncture. That’s a totally separate Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practice that works through an entirely different philosophy. Acupuncture and dry needling are two completely different modalities, although at first glance, they may look similar. For example, with acupuncture, the area where the needles are placed may be totally different from where the pain is located. With dry needling, the needles are inserted directly into the affected trigger points. Also, dry needling does not inject anything into the muscles—the filament needles are solid and do not deliver any liquid into the body.

3. The Benefits of Dry Needling

The primary benefit of dry needling here at Endurance Rehabilitation is that it relieves tight, sore spots of tissue in the muscles and fascia so that injuries can heal faster and more evenly. Once these spots relax and smooth out with the rest of the surrounding tissues, blood flow improves in these areas, which helps the body rush nutrients and oxygen in to help heal the area faster, relieving pain naturally.

Drug-Free Pain Relief with Dry Needling in Scottsdale and Phoenix

Dry needling has been a real game-changer for many of our patients here at Endurance Rehabilitation. If you are struggling with persistent muscle soreness and tight spots, schedule an appointment today with your physical therapist in Phoenix or Scottsdale, whichever office is closest to you!