Dry needling is a modern treatment designed to ease muscular pain. Its popularity is growing. During dry needling, a practitioner inserts several filiform needles into your skin. Filiform needles are fine, short, stainless-steel needles that don’t inject fluid into the body. That’s why we use the term “dry.”
Practitioners place the needles in “trigger points” in your muscle or tissue. Dry needling is also sometimes called intramuscular stimulation. The points are areas of knotted or hard muscle.
Dry needling helps release the knot and relieve any muscle pain or spasms. The needles will remain in your skin for a short period or can be quickly removed depending upon the physical therapist’s technique. The length of time depends on the practitioner too. To use the dry needling technique, healthcare practitioners must receive a specialized certification aligned with Alberta’s Physiotherapy college and association.
