Dry Needling Physiotherapy Services In Langley
Dry needling physiotherapy in Langley also known as trigger point dry needling and intramuscular stimulation, is a pseudoscientific technique used by various healthcare practitioners, including physical therapists, physicians, and chiropractors, among others. Dry needling is mainly used to treat myofascial trigger points, but it is also used to target connective tissue, neural ailments, and muscular ailments to help relax and heal these structures.
Dry Needling Physiotherapy Treatment
Pain alters your body’s movement patterns. Dried-needle therapy, it is assumed, alters the brain-muscle communication so that movement patterns can recover to their pre-injury state. When a needle is put into a patient’s body, they may feel a variety of feelings, including pain, discomfort, and a muscle twitch.
Depending on the type of pain being treated and the length of time it has lasted, the needles can be inserted deeply or superficially and for shorter or longer periods of time. It’s possible that a needle may be in your muscle for just a few seconds, or it could be there for up to 10 or 15 minutes.
Physical therapists utilize dry needling physiotherapy in Langley as a method of treating pain and mobility problems. It’s done by inserting a “dry” needle, one that doesn’t contain medication or an injection, into the muscle.
Trigger point dry needling and intramuscular manual treatment are two more phrases that are often used to describe dry needling. Acupuncture, as experienced by acupuncturists, is based on traditional Chinese medicine and does not involve dry needling. The use of dry needling physiotherapy in Langley is current Western medicine.
What Is a Dry Needling Trigger Point?
A trigger point is a tight strip of skeletal muscle that is positioned inside a larger muscle group and that causes pain when touched. The contact of a trigger point may produce pain in other regions of the body, and touching a trigger point may cause pain in other sections of the body.
What type of needles are used?
An very tiny filiform needle is used to enter the epidermis and activate the underlying myofascial trigger points, as well as the surrounding muscle and connective tissues. With the use of the needle, physical therapists may target tissues that are not easily perceptible by hand.
When dry needling, physical therapists follow the Standard Precautions, Guide to Infection Prevention for Outpatient Settings, which includes the use of gloves and other personal protective equipment. The sharps collected from the sterile needles are disposed of in a medical sharps container.
Whenever physical therapists employ dry needling, it is usually as a single method as part of a larger therapeutic strategy.
Dry needling physio therapy in Langley is a technique used by physical therapists to release or inactivate trigger points in order to reduce pain or increase range of motion. The preliminary findings of dry needling support the notion that it improves pain control, reduces muscle tension, and normalises dysfunctions of the motor end plates, which are the sites at which nerve impulses are transferred to the muscles. This can assist the patient in returning to an active rehabilitation programme more quickly.
Individualized postgraduate education and training are required for physical therapists who practise dry needling in order to augment their existing knowledge. When calling a physical therapist for dry needling treatment, be essential to inquire about the physical therapist’s specific experience and educational background.
Benefits of Dry Needling
- Promotes Blood Flow. Trigger points cause tightness in muscles which can restrict blood flow and therefore oxygen delivery. This lack of oxygen can contribute to pain in the affected area. By using dry needling to deactivate trigger points in the muscle, we can reduce the barrier to blood flow and improve oxygenation.
- Promotes Healing. By creating tiny injuries in a dysfunctional muscle with the use of a needle, the body responds with an inflammatory response in the area. This is a natural healing process which stimulates healing through collagen and protein formation and can help to restore a muscle’s normal function.
- Reduces Pain. This can take many forms. In many cases, the deactivation of trigger points alone can reduce pain locally; however, by improving muscle extensibility this can, in some cases, take pressure off joints to reduce joint pain, or nerves to reduce radicular pain. Additionally, chemical changes within the muscle and associated nerves can block or influence the transmission of pain messages to the brain.
- Improves Muscle Extensibility and Contractibility. Once again, the deactivation of trigger points is mostly to thank here! By releasing taut bands found within muscle, muscled spasms can be decreased and increased range of motion can be achieved. Improved joint mechanics and using the “twitch response” to our advantage can allow for improved recruitment and activation of appropriate muscles.
- Provides a “Window” of Opportunity. This is where the “function” in “Functional Dry Needling” comes into play. Dry needling can be like hitting the RESET button for our muscles and nervous system; and, can allow us a period in which we can re-learn or re-establish more appropriate movement or muscle recruitment patterns. It is important to not simply rely on dry needling as a stand alone treatment, but instead pair it with other physiotherapy techniques as well as appropriate home exercises to help reinforce these new ways to move. By taking advantage of this window of opportunity, we can not only use dry needling as a way to treat pain and dysfunction, but also as a preventative measure!