How Is Dry Needling Different From Acupuncture and How Does Dry Needling Work

We often hear the questions “Is Dry Needling the same as Acupuncture” and “How Does Dry Needling Work?”

Let’s start with the first question.  Dry Needling and Acupuncture are very different.  Whereas Acupuncture points are always there (based on the meridian system), Myofascial Trigger Points (MTrPs) and other soft tissue injuries, as treated by Dry Needling, are only apparent when the associated pathology is present.  It is proper to say acupuncture is steeped in the eastern medicine ideology of systemic health and function whereas dry needling is used more-so for soft tissue injury treatment.  In more simple terms, the only thing in common with Acupuncture is the needle.  And even then, longer length needles tend to be used by Dry Needling practitioners.

Dry Needling is a highly effective modality implemented to help with the treatment of soft tissue Trigger Points, Tender Points, scar tissue, and other soft tissue problems.  It is utilized by sports based chiropractors, physical therapists, and other licensed healthcare providers.  Its place is as appropriate in a NFL locker room as it is in your local sports therapist’s office.  The application is unique and the results undeniable.

Now to answer the second question: Dry Needling has its roots in the application of Trigger Point injections that date back to the 1930s, with Dr. Janet Travell.  The field grew over the next several decades.  In 1979, the renowned Czech Rehabilitation Specialist, Dr. Karl Lewit, published a milestone paper discussing that using a hollow bore needle (like a Dry Needling or Acupuncture needle) produced the same positive clinical results as injections using a pharmacological agent.  This paper spurred on further research and study, and today, it is well known that Dry Needling is an excellent treatment choice for soft tissue injuries, without the side effects of injections that administer pharmacologic agents.   

The entire premise and background of Dry Needling is too vast to properly discuss here, but understanding some of what Dry Needling can do for you is listed below.  These are all profound effects, whether for an athlete, or not.  But again, this list is to only to demonstrate mechanisms of how dry needling works, not to be a literature review of the thousands of studies on specific positive outcomes with dry needling.

Mechanisms of Action on Myofascial Trigger Points (MFTrP) by Dry Needling include:

There are many mechanisms in play with how Dry Needling works.

1. Normalize chemical environment of active MTrPs (Shah)
2. Mechanical disruption of contraction knots  (Simons and Mense)
3. Micro trauma to muscle causing muscle regeneration without scar tissue formation.  (Schultz)
4. Allows for relaxation of taut/tight microfibers to resume their resting length of actin and myosin overlap  (Dommerholt)
5. Mechanical stimulation to collagen fibers that excites their piezoelectric potentials and that generates remodeling (Liboff)
6. Removes peripheral nociceptive (pain) input  (Dommerholt)
7. Reduction of scar pain and facilitates wound healing (Rozenfeld)
8. Facilitates advantageous bleeding that brings about the influx of growth factors (activating healing and regeneration) (Nagraba)
9. Insertion of needle into fascia causes a ‘grasping’ of the needle that leads to a winding of connective tissue and the creation of the tight mechanical coupling between needle and tissue.  This leads to measurable changes in connective tissue architecture.  Further studies revealed fibroblastic response distal to the needle site.  It appears as if the collagen bundles assume a straighter, more parallel orientation after the rotation.  (Langevin).
10. And more…

Needless to say, dry needling has tremendously beneficial effects.  However, as Dommerholt discussed in his study referenced above, dry needling is one component (although a very important one)  of a larger comprehensive care program.  At Sports Dry Needling, that’s exactly how we approach dry needling and why we believe our curriculum offers a unique methodology utilizing dry needling and other supportive/applicable treatment approaches.

Next blog, we’ll start to look at the different scientific models that support dry needling.

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