Dry Needling

bren74

Has anyone had any experience of dry needling? Did you find it benefical? What are its advantages over other remedies such as acupunture? My girlfriend has a knee problem - patella femoral syndrome, and her physio has recommended this treatment?

Lemon

I had dry needling done on my calves as they were full of knots and I was getting terrible shin and calf pain when I ran. Found the actual procedure of dry needling excruciatingly painful at first but had excellent results after about 4 sessions....no more pain at all really...

copacetic

I had it on a sciatic issue and found that it helped release some tension that couldn't be got at with any of the stretches the physio could do.They physio did it as part of the treatment. It wasn't any more uncomfortable than the rest of the physio.

Blueskye

I'm having it done at the moment, have had 3 sessions so far. I have some knots in one of my glutes and the pain was moving down into my leg during long runs. It's definitely helping but I have a few more sessions to go.

Although acupunctute and dry needling both use needles, they're quite different procedures. Dry needling is fairly painful in my experience, the physio moves the needles and it really hurts but for only a few seconds at a time.

murrayp4

I had it done to my shoulder. It's pretty painful but a weird deep pain. The best way I'd describe it is the sort of pain you get after going to the gym following a break from exercise. Except the pain comes on instantly. Did I find it beneficial? I was told it has the same effect as massage but results are quicker with the dry needling. I'm actually shuddering now when I think back on it. But I may be a big girls blouse...:D

bren74

thanks for the posts on your experiences. Im starting to feel sorry for her now Sounds like you need a number of sessions to feel the full benefits

littlebug

Same experience as the others. I had it done on my hip and it worked a treat after 3 sessions... and this after years of discomfort and pain long before I started running. It does feel horrible getting it done. the needles go in much deeper than in acupuncture and they wiggle them around... ugh.
I'm expecting to get it done again tomorrow....the thought of it is horrible but the results worth it.

rdunne

how does it compare to Acupuncture?

TFBubendorfer

I had dry needling done on my calves about a year ago; the guy promised it would cure my cramping problems.

The procedure itself was on the wrong side of excruciating, but it would have been worthwhile had it worked. Unfortunately it didn't, my calves are still prone to cramping. :mad: Now that I think of it, my calves still hurt 48 hours after the needling.

In comparison to acupuncture, well, it hurts a lot more.

ss43

Dry needling is really really really sore. Absolutely horrible. I've had it twice. First time it had short term benefits (few days), just ahd my second go so we'll see. The girl who did said that it takes a few treatments for it to be really effective if it's a chronic issue. She better be right cos it's terrible. acupuncture on the other hand is just boring while you wait withthe needles in you. There's just a little pinch as they go in. Can't say I ever noticed much benefit to acupuncture (it could have helped, I always got it along with amssage so hard to say which did what).

ss43

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

I had dry needling done on my calves about a year ago; the guy promised it would cure my cramping problems.

The procedure itself was on the wrong side of excruciating, but it would have been worthwhile had it worked. Unfortunately it didn't, my calves are still prone to cramping. :mad: Now that I think of it, my calves still hurt 48 hours after the needling.

In comparison to acupuncture, well, it hurts a lot more.

Did you just get it done once. I was told that the worse state your muscle is in , the longer the initial pain and the shorter the effects will last for and that it takes a few treatments. Can't vouch for it's efficacy yet though.

copacetic

rdunne wrote: »

how does it compare to Acupuncture?

its really different. dry needling the try to get the needle into the centre of where you problem is to encourage blood flow etc. It can involve a bit of wiggling around to get the needle in the right spot. By finding where it really hurts they know they have the right spot.

Having said that I found it nothing like as painful as some people appear to have done..

ss43

copacetic wrote: »

its really different. dry needling the try to get the needle into the centre of where you problem is to encourage blood flow etc. It can involve a bit of wiggling around to get the needle in the right spot. By finding where it really hurts they know they have the right spot.

Having said that I found it nothing like as painful as some people appear to have done..

You're lucky. I've had massages that had me sweating and squirming away from the masseur and they were much nicer than the needling. I could barely walk home after my larest session and didn't really move for the rest of the day. It better work...

nlm1980

I had it done to release a massivley tense muscle in my calf as a result of another injury which i am still recieving treatment for. The phsio explained to me that if u imagine the tensed/troubled muscle as a water balloon and u need to release the the water causing minmal damge to the balloon. So instead of getting a knife and ripping threw the ballon releasing the water (tension) and causing damage, the dry needling gradually releases the tension without traumatising the muscle further.
Thats not word for word but it is the gyst of it. It does work but my problem was a symptom of a hip problem and my calf over compensating. When the needle hits a troubled area it feels like an electric shock and ur whole leg jerks involuntary and that s the release of tension.
It hurts alot for a few hours after but like I said i did find it very helpful.
Pain wise its tolerable, its better than the intense hands on manipulation of the muscles!!

TFBubendorfer

ss43 wrote: »

Did you just get it done once. I was told that the worse state your muscle is in , the longer the initial pain and the shorter the effects will last for and that it takes a few treatments. Can't vouch for it's efficacy yet though.

No, I had 2 sessions. That's when he said I should be ok now. If he had recommended more, I would have done more, not that I was looking forward to them.

TFBubendorfer

copacetic wrote: »

It can involve a bit of wiggling around to get the needle in the right spot. By finding where it really hurts they know they have the right spot.

Yes, I can vouch for that. He almost had to scrape me off the ceiling a couple of times when he found "the right spot".:D

rigal

I've had two sessions on my right ITB band. One last week and the second tonight. I've found it great and have had no problems while running since the first treatment. I'm doing the Amsterdam marathon on Sunday week so I'm very happy to say this was my last session. I found it excruciating as well although the first session was much worse - I left a sweaty mess and then had to go to work for the day .

I would definitely recommend it to someone with a similar injury.

thirstywork

had it done on my hamstring which was a long term problem.had no issues since which is great.
one problem was the bruising after and couldnt train for about 3-4 days but well worth the pain.