Dry Needling in Flowery Branch, GA

How you experience pain as it relates to neuromusculoskeletal conditions is incredibly complex. Studies have demonstrated that in many cases, key distal points - often called trigger points - are contributing to your pain, even when they're far from the site of pain. The complexity of pain explains the difficulty treating it; many patients will seek treatment for years, from a wide variety of practitioners and specialists, without finding relief.

Dry needling involves inserting a tiny needle into these key distal points to stimulate the cortical areas in your brain responsible for pain control. It's name is a play on wet needling; a similar process of inserting a tiny needle into a muscle to administer medications like corticosteroids or anesthetics, for example. On the contrary, nothing is injected through the monofilament needle used in dry needling; it is the process of stimulating the nerves and muscles through penetration, in coordination with physical therapy, that produces results.

Your physical therapist will use a thin monofilament or filiform needle to penetrate the skin and muscle, stimulating distal points and interrupting pain signals. Most patients don't experience any pain when the needle is inserted because the needle itself is so thin, but dry needling does stimulate the muscle, which can be uncomfortable during treatment and lead to soreness or achiness the next day. Your physical therapist is trained to select the appropriate size and type of monofilament needle for the treatment area(s); the gauge will depend on a number of factors unique to each patient.

Dry needling can supplement your treatment for complex and painful conditions that interrupt your quality of life, like headache, subacromial pain syndrome, TMJ disorders, cervical radiculopathy, carpal tunnel syndrome, lateral epicondylalgia, whiplash-associated disorders, and more. Randomized controlled trials have demonstrated a significant reduction in pain for patients with fibromyalgia, total knee arthroplasty, mechanical neck pain, and myofascial pain - reduction that surpassed that achieved through exercise.

Dry needling isn't the right solution for every patient; it's helpful in very specific situations. Your physical therapist can help you determine whether dry needling should be added to your treatment plan, in collaboration with other treatments, to help you address chronic or acute pain. In Flowery Branch dry needling is available at Back in the Game Physical Therapy on Martin Road. Request an appointment with one of our experienced physical therapists today to learn more about dry needling and find out if you're a candidate for this innovative treatment.