First, dry needling is not acupuncture. While there are similar techniques and needles used in both, acupuncture is a Chinese Medicine that can treat several different conditions and problems in the body, while dry needling is a more Western Technique that will only treat muscular related problems only.
The needles that are used are about the same thickness as a strand of hair, and the needles that I personally use range in length from 25mm-60mm. The length of the needle that is used depends on the area that is being dry needled and the size of the muscle that is being dry needles. For instance muscles around the ribs will have shorter needles used on them due to muscle size and for safety reasons, while muscles such as the glutes will have 60mm needles used due to the muscle size.
Dry needling has similar effects to physiotherapy and massage. One of its main benefits is that it tends to be less painful, than traditional physiotherapy and massage techniques, which can help make treatments more tolerable and even potentially lessen the amount of treatments that you may need.
Dry needling is a great way of treating tight muscles, knots within muscles, muscle spasms, arthritic pain and even nerve pain caused by problematic muscles (forms of sciatica and nerve pain caused by tight muscles in the shoulder). Another thing that it can treat is fascia. So what is fascia? Well, it is a layer of fibrous tissue that is between the skin and muscle. Often due to bad posture, trauma to the muscle and repetitive strain, fascia can tighten and cause muscles to become stiff and painful. Dry Needling is a fantastic way of treating this and can potentially be less painful that other more conventional techniques for treating fascial pain.
Another great advantages of dry needling is that you can treat more than one area at a time. Seen as the needles tends to be in for a minimum of 10 minutes, it is possible to treat another area (This may not always be possible). This means that you will gain even more benefits from your treatment and I find this particularly beneficial for people who are getting a sports massage.
If you would be interested in making an appointment to have dry needling done or have any questions, feel free to contact me @ 0872101281.