Treat pain and speed up the healing process

Dry needling is an emerging physical therapy practice that enables deep treatment of certain injuries to the muscles, tendons and ligaments. Although it is not well known, dry needling has been used in physical therapy for almost 13 years in Quebec.

Dry needling and myofascial pain syndrome

Myofascial pain syndrome is a disorder in which muscle pain appears without any trauma or muscle injury. The syndrome is characterized by all the symptoms caused by a trigger point or multiple trigger points.

The trigger points are defined by a taut band in the muscle (contraction knot) after compression, stretching or prolonged muscle overload (old injury, repetitive work, etc.). These points can be active, which means they refer pain to the areas beyond the tense muscle. They can also be latent, which means the pain is only felt locally.

Dry needling has been demonstrated to be particularly effective for this kind of syndrome by causing micro-lesions and vasodilation in the muscles, thus prompting a controlled inflammatory reaction that promotes tissue repair and especially, deactivation of the trigger point.

Puncture physiotherapy with dry needles can also be used for other musculo-skeletal conditions, such as:

• Bursitis
• Chronic tendinitis
• Chronic low back pain
• Headaches and migraines
• Dysfunction of the temporomandibular joint (jaw)