My Experience with Dry Needling
I could (and will!) talk more about the science behind the needles. How intramuscular stimulation can create neuroplasticity in REAL TIME, modulate inflammation in muscular and tendon tissue, reduce muscle spasm and neurogenic symptoms like numbness, tingling, and weakness, or just break up persistent pain loops in a sensitive nervous system.
But if you’ve ever met me, you might have heard me say “no one with an experience is beholden to a man with a theory”. At AFPT, we use best evidence from a scientific space to inform our work, but so much of it is being deeply curious about what is going on with the body and the amazing and sometimes confusing human experience.
Want to know more?
Here are a few “resources” you can choose from if you want to know more around the technical aspects of dry needling:
You can also watch our socials to hear what our clients have to say about their experiences with dry needling as a part of their health maintenance and healing. I’ll talk about my personal experience with dry needling during this blog, and the journey of bringing dry needling to my practice.
My Introduction to Dry Needling
When I was 27 years old, I discovered that I had a hole in the middle of my shinbone. I found out this issue existed during my first foray into ultrarunning. I remember when the symptoms started from the weakness in my shinbone. I was running down the entirety of the Old Toll Road above Montreat on a beautiful January day. The hole had gotten infected during some point in time, causing my body to shut down the infection. The egg sized hole remained.
Well, an x-ray discovered the issue, and it was clear I was having a stress fracture around the tissue. We decided that we needed to do a surgery to clean out any remaining bacteria that might have been “reactivated” in the inner part of my shinbone. Then the upper shinbone would be filled with calcium to try to help the bone grow and fill the hole (that part didn’t work so well). After the surgery, I was put into a boot for three months before being ready to start rehab.
By the six month mark post surgery, everything felt fine, EXCEPT jogging. I could walk, run or sprint on my toes, but if I took a normal stride it felt like someone was jabbing a finger into the arch of my foot. Every. Single. Step. It felt really unpleasant. I tried every method out there to fix this issue. From massage to physical therapy to stretching to acupuncture... you name it, it didn’t have any effect.
So I stopped running, it felt pretty unpleasant, so it was hard to motivate myself to keep doing it. I decided to just keep on biking and hitting the gym. It wasn’t until 2010 that I would get relief from my ailment.
I had met a physiotherapist from Canada who told me all about dry needling. They explained that it was a huge help to people with chronic pain and was one of the most promising treatments for sports medicine injuries to muscles. I had previous 5-star experiences with acupuncture and knew how therapeutic needle insertion can be for releasing pain and tension in the body. I was pretty interested to hear that there was an approach more rooted in anatomy and physiology, which I was already familiar with, to help address issues.
So I went to my first dry needling course, and I wasn’t super impressed in the beginning. I continued to listen and learn as the course went on, and on the final day we started the lab section. We became pincushions for other physical therapists who had minimal experience inserting needles in people. This left me feeling unsure if this was a great treatment technique for me.
Afterwards, I was SO SORE in my thighs and calves (where we did the work). Like hilariously, could hardly walk for a few days destroyed all my muscles at the gym staggering to walk and grunting to get up out of a chair kind of sore. I later learned this wasn’t typical, but at the time I was even less impressed with the treatment. I’m also realizing at this point you probably have less interest in dry needling than, say, slug farming or the causes of the 100-Year War.
It took about five days for the soreness to go away. When it finally did, the symptom in my foot was completely gone for three months. I was able to start trail running again without any complaints. When it started sneaking back in, I had one of those novice dry-needler classmates redo the treatment, and it was gone again for another 3.5 months. I went for one last treatment and it has never come back. I have run up to 90 miles a week at this point, and felt not an ounce of pain or discomfort.
Well, not THAT pain or discomfort.
Bringing Dry Needling to My Practice
It was a clear message to me, as an already well-trained manual therapist, that there were things in the world I didn’t know. I needed to finish my certification, so I could provide clients the same relief I had experienced. I became one of the first PTs in North Carolina certified to provide dry needling, and Jeff Meadows was in a second wave shortly after.
There were challenges along the way. There was pushback from the Acupuncture Board, which took a lawsuit to clear. The Acupuncture Board accused physical therapists practicing dry needling of practicing acupuncture without a license. I wasn't– dry needing and traditional acupuncture are wildly different experiences that both usually involve thin, disposable monofilament needles.
The lawsuit was found overwhelmingly in favor of physical therapists. The Supreme Court upheld the lower court’s decision that dry needling is under the scope of physical therapy.*
Okay so there’s MY story. But there are so many other people with very real, very important stories that hinge on having dry needling as the right treatment at the right moment to help them get through complex injury issues. Got questions? Let us know. Dry needling can be a really helpful component of a full course of physical therapy and rehabilitation, or it can be a technique that people use like massage or chiropractic adjustments to keep your body injury-free.
*Footnote: In fact, we have had multiple acupuncturists as clients because they appreciate the support dry needling can add to the process of evidence-informed, holistic physical therapy we strive to provide to every client that comes in the door.
Free Movement Assessment at Anti-Fragile Physical Therapy
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