DrY Needling
As a performance physical therapy clinic specializing in helping runners and endurance athletes, 6:33 Physical Therapy in Mt. Pleasant, SC, aims to assist our clients in overcoming pain, enhancing mobility, and elevating their performance.
In addition to physical therapy, we offer dry needling to our physical therapy patients and by appointment. Dry needling is an effective treatment with numerous benefits not just for runners and athletes, but anyone with dealing with muscle knots and tension.
If you are interested in scheduling a dry needling appointment, please contact us.
What is trigger point dry needling?
In dry needling, we use thin needles to stimulate muscles, relieving pain and improving range of motion.
By inserting thin needles into trigger points and muscle knots, we are able to alleviate pain. The trigger points and muscle knots are areas of tightness and hypersensitivity that can contribute to pain, restricted motion, and reduced overall performance.
But how does this work? When your physical therapist dry needles a particularly tender, painful spot, they encourage blood flow to that area, which allows the muscle to release.
We have seen dry needling to be an effective treatment for individuals with nagging and aches and pains. This includes chronic muscle tension and prolonged bodily stiffness, especially in the joints.
Benefits of dry needling
Dry needling has many benefits, which is why we incorporate it into many of our treatment plans. This range of benefits not only helps runners, but helps all clients heal so they can continue moving.
Pain Reduction. At our clinic, we aim to eliminate our patients’ pain. When we target and release trigger points through dry needling, we can significantly decrease pain and discomfort associated with injuries and chronic pain. While dry needling will not eliminate pain on its own, it is a great tool to help our clients feel better and move better during the recovery process and beyond.
Improved Range of Motion. When we release muscular tension through dry needling, the muscle can then move more freely. Enhancing flexibility and improving range of motion are two major benefits of dry needling that can supplement physical therapy, endurance training, and recovery.
Reduced Muscular Tension. Dealing with tense muscles makes every movement painful—and difficult. Dry needling can reduce muscular tension, which promotes relaxation and improves muscle function. This also helps clients recover faster.
Optimized Movement. By addressing trigger points, dry needling helps optimize movement patterns. In conjunction with physical therapy and strength training, dry needling can assist in mitigating muscular imbalances, thus reducing risk of re-injury.
HEAR FROM OUR CLIENTS
Many of our clients see results with dry needling. Here what they have to say about dry needling in at our Charleston, SC, physical therapy clinic.
ALICIA REITMAN
Dr. Alison saved the day with her knowledge and incredible dry needling skills. My headache disappeared!
Brook Gilbert
Dry needling loosened a lot of the tension in my hip/knee and, more importantly for me, helped increase my knowledge of what was happening.
BTC
I have had a nagging chronic hip injury for almost 2 years… Her diagnosis and very specific exercises to strengthen the injury were spot on, while the dry needling technique gave me rapid relief.
Dry needling integration with your exercise regimen
Many of our clients are overcoming injuries like strains and sprains, deal with frequent tension headaches, or have tender spots painful to the touch. Pairing trigger point dry needling with an appropriate exercise regimen can be highly beneficial for individuals on their recovery journey.
Dry needling can:
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Facilitate Recovery. We aim to help our clients recover from their injuries so they can keep moving. The combination of dry needling and targeted exercises accelerates recovery by addressing muscular imbalances and tissue dysfunction.
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Enhance Performance. At 6:33 Physical Therapy, we know our clients want to get back out there. Dry needling promotes pain-free movement and improves overall ability, which can enhance athletic performance.
Dry needling faqs
Will dry needling work for me?
Most individuals dealing with muscular injury or chronic pain can benefit from dry needling. If you are unsure if dry needling is right for you, contact our Mt. Pleasant, SC, physical therapy clinic and speak to one of our providers. We are happy to answer questions and determine if dry needling would be an effective treatment option.
I am not a physical therapy patient at 6:33 Physical Therapy. Can I still come in for dry needling?
Yes! We would be happy to see you for a dry needling session. Please call ahead and schedule an appointment with one of our physical therapists.
Is dry needling painful?
It depends. Some of our patients do not experience pain during dry needling sessions and others do. Often, the muscle area we are working on during these sessions are very tender and painful. However, we know that dry needling can release this tension and alleviate pain.
After dry needling, you may experience soreness near the needling site, but that will go away.
Will dry needling eliminate my pain?
Dry needling will not fully eliminate pain, but it can alleviate pain, especially from chronic and overuse injuries. Our clinic uses dry needling in combination with other techniques to eliminate your pain after determining the root cause of injury.
No treatment is the “secret” solution to living without pain. Instead, it is important to use multiple treatment options to figure out what works best for you and your unique situation.
How is dry needling different from acupuncture?
While in both dry needling and acupuncture a practitioner inserts thin needles into the body, the two practices are not similar.
Dry needling was developed to effectively treat pain and musculoskeletal disorders, focusing on stimulating trigger points and muscle knots. By creating a twitch response in the muscles, dry needling helps the muscle relax.
Acupuncture, on the other hand, is based on Eastern medicine practices with the goal to return the flow of each person’s energy force (qi) through pathways in the body.
At 6:33 Physical Therapy, we are licensed for dry needling to treat musculoskeletal issues in our patients.