Services

Dry Needling

What is dry needling?

Dry needling is a skilled intervention that uses a thin, solid filament needle to stimulate underlying myofascial trigger points, muscular and connective tissues that may contribute to pain, reduced mobility and movement impairments.

Dry needling helps directly affect taut bands of muscle tissue and to inactivate trigger points that may contribute to local or referred pain, stiffness, weakness, and dysfunctional movement. Dry needling essentially works as a ‘reset’ of the affected tissue, helping to decrease pain, increase mobility and to normalize muscle activation patterns in order to help optimize movement and improve function. 

What to expect during a dry needling session?

During the dry needling treatment, you may or may not feel the needle enter the skin and then typically will feel a deep ache, cramp and/or localized twitching sensation when the needle is inserted into the region of the trigger point or taut banded tissue. This may reproduce your pain either locally or in referral patterns and can be very useful diagnostically as well as an effective treatment.

You may experience improvement in your pain and mobility even from the first visit, though depending on the nature of the injury and the duration of your condition, it may take several treatments to achieve lasting change and effectively treat the root cause of your condition.

Muscle soreness in the treated region is typical and can differ based on the person and the area treated. This soreness can last up to 24-48 hours. This soreness typically feels like you gave the muscle a good workout and should feel different from your pain.

We will work together after a thorough physical therapy evaluation to determine whether dry needling is an appropriate treatment for you and your condition. It is typically used in conjunction with other physical therapy treatment modalities such as manual therapy, movement re-education and therapeutic exercise to restore function and create lasting change.

Manual Therapy

Manual physical therapy encompasses a wide range of hands-on skilled interventions designed to facilitate pain reduction, accelerate tissue healing, improve range of motion, and optimize movement mechanics.

Manual therapy may include techniques such as soft tissue mobilization, joint mobilization and/or manipulation and dry needling. Appropriate manual therapy techniques for your condition will be determined after a thorough physical therapy evaluation which will include a detailed history and examination of how you move as a whole. We use manual techniques in conjunction with specific movements and exercises to help you function better and return to doing what you love with longevity.

Through hour-long, one on one appointments, we have the dedicated time to learn what your body and tissues respond best to and we will continuously re-evaluate through the process to ensure you are receiving the most effective care. 

Our treatment approach is collaborative in nature and is tailored specifically to your goals and comfort levels. We will discuss optimal techniques to help your body feel better and help you achieve your movement goals in the short term as well as overall health and injury prevention in the long term.

Therapeutic Exercise

You will be given specific exercises and movements based upon findings in your physical therapy evaluation and as a follow up to complement manual therapies in the treatment session. The goal of these exercises is to help restore optimal movement patterns, flexibility, strength and endurance with an emphasis on building a solid foundation to move you towards meeting your functional goals.

This approach will not only improve your existing conditions, but will help prevent future occurrences of your existing and other issues through improved body mechanics, movement and foundational strength.

Education

My goal is to provide you with the education you need to deeply understand the root cause of your injury or condition and empower you to take an active role in your treatment.

The human body is deeply interconnected and there are often many contributing factors to an injury, sometimes in seemingly unrelated areas of the body. We will take the time to thoroughly evaluate your condition, taking a whole body approach to assessing contributing factors.

I want to ensure you have a deep understanding of the root cause of your condition and contributing factors, empowering you to be an active participant in your care both in resolving your current condition and so that you can recognize early indications of other issues that may arise and proactively address them. Nothing makes me happier than a patient who takes on the challenge of their own body to create better long-term outcomes for themselves.