What is Dry Needling?
Dry needling is a form of therapy in which fine needles are inserted into myofascial trigger points, tendons, ligaments or nerves in order to stimulate a healing response in painful musculoskeletal conditions. Dry needling is not acupuncture or Oriental medicine; that is, it does not have the purpose of alternating the (“Qi”) along traditional Chinese meridians for the treatment of diseases. In fact, dry needling is a modern, science-based intervention for the treatment of pain and dysfunction in musculoskeletal problems such as neck pain, shoulder impingement, tennis elbow, carpal tunnel syndrome, knee pain, shin splints, plantar fasciitis or low-back pain.

Is Dry Needling safe?
Drowsiness, tiredness or dizziness can occur after treatment in a small number of patients (1-3%) and if affected, you are advised not to drive. Minor bleeding or bruising occurs after dry needling in 15-20% of treatments and is considered normal. Temporary pain during dry needling occurs in 60-70% of treatments. Existing symptoms can get worse after treatment (less than 3% of patients); however, this is not necessary a “bad” sign. Fainting can occur in certain patients (0.3%), particularly at the first treatment session when needling the neck or head regions. Dry needling is very safe; however, serious side effects can occur in less than 1 per 10,000 (less than 0.01%) treatments. The most common serious side effect from dry needling is induced pneumothorax (lung collapse due to air inside the chest wall). The symptoms of dry needling-induced pneumothorax commonly do not occur until after the treatment session and sometimes it takes several hours to develop. The signs and symptoms of a pneumothorax may include shortness of breath (SOB) on exertion, increased breathing rate, chest pain, a dry cough, bluish decolorization of the skin or excessive sweating. If such signs and/or symptoms occur, you should immediately contact your physical therapist or physician. Nerves or blood vessels may be damaged from dry needling which can result in pain, numbness or tingling, however this is very rare event and is usually temporary. Damage to internal organs has been reported in medical literature following needling, however, these are extremely rare events (1 in 200,000).