Therapeutic
Dry Needling 

What is Therapeutic Dry Needling? 

 

The 2012 American Physical Therapy Association defines dry needling as:

'A skilled intervention that uses a thin filiform needle to penetrate the skin and stimulate underlying myofascial trigger points, muscular, and connective tissues for the management of neuromusculoskeletal pain and movement impairments' (Dunning et al. 2014).

 

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What happens after Therapeutic Dry Needling?  

= Local Analgesia

 

What is the mechanics of Local Analgesia?

 

Fibroblasts are a cell that synthesises the extracellular matrix and collagen, delivering the structural framework for tissues, playing a crucial role in wound healing.

 

Adenosine also has a direct vasodilatory effect, release by fibroblasts and various tissues due to the micro-trauma from the mechanical needle stimulation (Goldman et al., 2010).

 

The extracellular adenosine binds cell membranes of c-fibres and inhibits their response to stimulation, a local component of needle analgesia.

 

Myofascial Pain Syndrome (MPS) and Therapeutic Dry Needling?

 

‘Myofascial pain syndrome (MPS) is a musculoskeletal pain condition characterised by local and referred pain perceived as deep and aching, and by the presence of myofascial trigger points in any part of the body’ (Graven-Nielsen & Arendt-Nielsen, 2014. pp 7-20). Dry needling effectively manages MPS caused by MTrPs (Dommerholt et al., 2018, 2019).

 

References

Dommerholt, J., & Fernández-de-las-Peñas, C. (Eds.). (2013). Trigger point dry needling: an evidence and clinical-based approach. Sydney, NSW: Churchill-Liv ingstone Elsevier.

 

Dunning, James, Raymond Butts, Firas Mourad, Ian Young, Sean Flannagan, and Thomas Perreault. 2014. “Dry Needling: A Literature Review with Implications for Clinical Practice Guidelines.” The Physical Therapy Review 19 (4): 252 –65.

 

Goldman, N., Chen, M., Fujita, T., Xu, Q., Peng, W., Liu, W., Jensen, T. K., Pei, Y., Wang, F., Han, X., Chen, J.-F., Schnermann, J., Takano, T., Bekar, L., Tieu, K., & Nedergaard, M. (2010). Adenosine A1 receptors mediate local anti-nociceptive effects of acupuncture. Nature Neuroscience, 13(7), 883–888.