This is the first in a series of mini posts about Acupuncture, its benefits and how it can help you. I understand that the idea of acupuncture is certainly not everyones cup of tea but it is a practice that is often misunderstood, and so before I begin I want you to banish all thoughts of big needles, blood and pain!
Today the focus will be on dry needling, which is the type of acupuncture used by physiotherapists to treat pain. The practice uses thin disposable needles which are used on and around trigger points which can be causing the pain. It is not uncommon for pain to be referred through a different part of the body so don’t be alarmed if you have neck pain and the therapist wants to begin by treating your shoulder!
The aim of dry needling is to produce a local muscular response, releasing and relaxing the affected muscles and promoting a healthy blood flow through the area. Although some people may experience slight bruising around the needle entry point there are very few known side effects and it continues to be recommended often by western health professionals.
We recently tweeted this info-graph from the Acupuncture Association of Chartered Physiotherapists (have a look at their site, it’s great!) it shows just a few examples of how dry needling can be used for pain relief.
For those of you wanting to go into more detail here are some articles/papers we like:
- American Physical Therapy Association: Description of Dry Needling
- Chartered Society of Physiotherapy: Getting to the point of acupuncture
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