Lately there has been a strong debate between dry needle techs and the acupuncture community regarding just what dry needle techs should and should not be allowed to do. Dry needling is performed by chiropractors, physical therapists, and osteopaths and other doctors.
Some of the theoretical concepts for dry needling where developed by Janet Travell, MD in the 1940s; however most of the credit for the development goes to Czech physician Larel Lewit. In 1979 Dr. Lewit injected many of his pain patients in tender sections of their muscles with analgesics. He began to realize that the improvements he witnessed were not due so much to the analgesic, but the needle puncture. He started to use solid filiform needles, the same ones used for acupuncture, and got results. Thus, the practice of dry needling began.
There are many differences between dry needling and acupuncture. The first difference is the amount of training received. A practitioner who uses dry needling is not board certified and can obtain a certificate in a weekend that is less than twenty four hours of study. Acupuncturists have 3500 hours of training, are board certified, and must participate in continuing education related to the field of acupuncture. Dry needling focuses on pain treatment and treats it locally. Acupuncturists treat pain and a variety of other illnesses, both mental and physical, holistically with local and distal points. Dry needling does not rely on channels or classic acupoints to move energy (qi), blood, or body fluids whereas acupuncture does.
Dry needling focuses on treating trigger points with intramuscular stimulation. Dry needling diagnosis is limited to palpation of tender areas on the patient and does not include potential systemic causes for the pain. It treats two kinds of pain. The first is neuropathic pain- pain caused by the damage or dysfunction of a nerve- and nociceptive pain which is most common and is found in headaches,osteoarthritis, sprains, strains, and myofacial pain. Dry needling is about inserting a needle in to a trigger point, an area of tenderness in a muscle, fascia, ligament, tendon, or periosteum. For example, in a muscle that is painful there are knots caused by muscle fibers that contract and refuse to relax causing blockages in blood flow and nerve communication that cause nerves to send pain signals from that location. Inserting a dry needle causes the nerves in the area to cease firing until the muscle knot becomes too fatigued to sustain the spasm. It is akin to sending the muscle into a state of shock where it becomes flaccid and releases its hold.
Although dry needling gets good results in cases of rehabilitation after muscle trauma, injuries, and surgery, many patients find the process to be very painful. The focus of dry needling is solely to treat local injuries and the physiological and mechanical balance of the body. It is practiced in 11 states in the US and in UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Germany, Brazil, and many other countries.
Acupuncture is based on 1,000 plus years of human and animal research. Its theory is based on opening meridians for qi (energy) and blood to flow in order to clear blockages in the body. It treats pain, physical, mental and emotional disorders with a holistic approach. Acupuncturists diagnose potential causes of pain and disease through in depth intake interviews, palpating, observing the way the patient looks and moves, and feeling the pulse and looking for symptoms of disease on the tongue. They then treat according to a well formed diagnosis and use points on the acupuncture meridians along with a variety of needle techniques to stimulate or calm these points in order to promote communication along the meridian that transmits all the way to the body’s interior and strengthen the organ systems. The needle technique is usually a smaller gauge needle and much less painful than the technique used by dry needling.
Dry needling gets results in assessment and treatment of myofacial pain and symptoms due to myofacial trigger points. It provides relief by inactivating these trigger points and eliminating the spasmodic focus of the muscle. Acupuncture diagnoses and treats pathological conditions including visceral and systemic diseases.
It also gets results in the assessment and treatment of myofacial pain and symptoms. However, it is gentler and unlike dry needling where the muscle is ―beaten by the needle into a state of submission, acupuncture treats pain through the release of endorphins coupled with creating a balance in the body’s energy levels and addressing the root of the problem not just the branch.
References:
Why Pain Management is a Priority for Your Health
What is Trigger Point Therapy?
