Needles, Getting to the Point

Here at Optimum Wellbeing Centre in Worongary, Gold Coast, both Dr. Nick Bradley osteopath and Cameron Barker naturopath are fully qualified and very experienced in Dry Needling. Have you wondered what it’s all about and if it could benefit you?

Q : So what is Dry Needling?

A : Dry Needling involves multiple advances of a filament needle into the muscle in the region of a “Trigger Point’. The aim of Dry Needling is to achieve a local twitch response to release muscle tension and pain. Dry needling is an effective treatment for chronic pain of neuropathic origin with very few side effects. This technique is unequalled in finding and eliminating neuromuscular dysfunction that leads to pain and functional deficits.

Q: Will it hurt?

A: The needle used is very thin and most subjects do not even feel it penetrate the skin. A healthy muscle feels hardly any discomfort with the insertion of this needle. However, if the muscle is sensitive and shortened or has active trigger points within it, the subject will feel a sensation like a muscle cramp -‘the twitch response’, and will be initially sore. The soreness recedes very rapidly though and then the needle is hardly felt at all.

The patient also may feel a reproduction of the symptomatic pain which is a helpful diagnostic indicator for the practitioner attempting to diagnose the cause of the patients symptoms. Patients soon learn to recognise this sensation and almost look forward to the sensation as it results in deactivating the trigger point, reducing pain and restoring normal length function to the involved muscle.

Dry Needling stimulates the healing process of soft tissues (muscle “trigger points”, fascia, tendons and ligaments, etc) resulting in Pain Relief and restoration of healthy physiology.