Dry Needling Research Paper

Dry Needling is a procedure that is performed by physical therapists in order to treat myofascial pain-- a disorder in which pressure or sensitive points in muscles cause intense pain in areas all over the body. Fascia is the connective tissue that surrounds all of the muscles and joint, and overall keeps everything together. The needle that is used is termed “dry;” this is because it doesn’t require any medication or form of injection. Dry needling is often confused with Acupuncture. While the two are very similar, they both have different things that they’re to accomplish. Acupuncture is an Traditional Chinese Method, while dry needling is based upon the principles of Western anatomy. Acupuncture is a form of pseudoscience, and it improves bodily functions, and is supposed to promote the body’s self-healing process by stimulating certain muscles and pressure points. The purpose of dry needling is to specifically target and restore muscular functions, while emphasizing on the improvement of tissue healing and restoring the function of the tissues. Dry needling can be mixed with other types of medications or treatments, and overall could speed up

But doctors do know that the insertion of a needle into a muscle fiber increases the conductibility of the chemical and electrical communication process. An example of this would be the inhibition of pain signals to the spinal cord, and the secretion of pain relieving chemicals from the brain. Fascia was once thought to have little to no neural conduction abilities; doctors have found that it’s ability to conduct neural impulses and chemical reactions is one of the fastest connections in the human body. Dry needling can provoke a muscle to have a twitch or spasmodic reaction. This is therapeutic because one the muscle twitches, it relaxes, and inflammation is immediately reduced from the area, and circulation