Functional Dry Needling
Functional Dry Needling
Amanda and I (Morgan) went to Columbia, Missouri (M-I-Z!) a few weekends ago to get certified in functional dry needling. It is a service that we have wanted to add to the clinic for some time now. We have heard of other professionals having great results and wanted to be able to offer that our lovely patients! We spent the weekend practicing how to dry needle each other in the classroom but also explored our old stomping grounds on breaks to reminisce on the good ole’ Mizzou days! The dry needling course was packed with an abundance of information and we were so excited to return to apply it in the clinic. It has been fun to see the results that we’ve gotten so far.
So you are probably wondering, “What is dry needling? Is it acupuncture?”
Dry needling uses acupuncture like needles to address trigger points within muscle tissue. The intent of dry needling is different than acupuncture. Acupuncturists use needles to follow the meridians of the body. This means an energy map of the body to help find the treatment location. The intent of dry needling is to address the musculoskeletal tissue based on muscle mapping. Once we find the area that is the source of pain or dysfunction then we will use a needle to go into that tissue and try to “reset" it. When there is tight muscle tissue or a pain area, the brain sends little bugs to surround that specific area. The purpose of the bugs is to let the body know it is a painful area of the body. The goal of the needle is to make the bugs disperse and “reset” the muscle with the goal of potentially gaining more stability or flexibility and less pain.
Dry needling has been a fun tool to use in our clinic for our patients. As a physical therapist, we typically educate our patients that it takes 8-10 weeks to change muscle tissue. However, dry needling has proved that we can see tissue change quicker! Especially if you follow it up by retraining the tissue with one of our programs like Empower Your Core or Empower Your Rear.
We are not doing directly needling the pelvic floor muscles. This is the question we have been asked frequently since returning from our training. We are needling the following regions: neck, shoulder, arm, low back, gluteals, and legs. These regions are still very helpful for our patients with pelvic floor dysfunction because we tend to see issues with those muscle groups contributing to the pelvic floor.
Not everyone can be needled due to specific contraindications and precautions which we go over with our patients/clients in the clinic prior to the needling session. If this is a service that you are interested in then please call to make an appointment with us! We are thrilled that this is a services we now offer at Empower Your Pelvis!