What is it?
Dry-needling, or intramuscular stimulation is a simple, safe and effective approach to working with pain which can be successfully integrated into almost any treatment plan. Extremely fine, sterile, stainless steel needles are applied directly into a muscle or tendon to trigger points or areas of specific pain. The aim is to increase blood flow to the area and to stimulate and direct the bodies own inflammatory response. Modern research also suggests that the mechanisms behind dry needling and acupuncture can be used to actually desensitise pain pathways. fMRI imaging has also shown lower brain activity in the limbic system whilst acupuncture is being applied. This is believed to help reduce stress and anxiety.
Evidence base & research
- In 2012, research was conducted by Andrew et al. to evaluate the effectiveness of acupuncture for four types of chronic pain: back and neck pain, osteoarthritis, chronic headache, and shoulder pain. The result reflects that acupuncture was superior to sham acupuncture controls and to the usual care controls in all four chronic pain conditions. Click for full study
- In 2010, a randomised control trial for chronic shoulder pain in an outpatient care environment was completed by Albrecht et al. This trial consists of 424 outpatients who suffered from chronic shoulder pain for 6 weeks or longer and have a pain score of 5 out of 10 or greater. All patients were randomly allotted to receive either acupuncture, a sham treatment, or conventional conservative orthopaedic treatment. The results all suggest the effect of the acupuncture treatment was superior to the sham treatment and conservative orthopaedic treatment. Statistics showed that acupuncture is an effective orthopaedic treatment for chronic shoulder pain. Click for full study