Real Talk About Dry Needling: What Our Physical Therapists Really Think

"DO YOU DO DRY NEEDLING?"

We're physical therapists - of course we get multiple calls every week from people that all ask the exact same question:

"Do you do dry needling?"

This may be surprising - but whenever we get that question, we kinda brace for impact.

We definitely do dry needling. We have all the needle sizes in the world in our storage closet. We have e-stim units, muscle scraping tools, foam rollers, you name it.

I've needled plenty of my patients. We've taken needling courses.

If you've had dry needling with us, you know it can be a helpful part of the overall physical therapy plan. 

At this point, you may be asking... 

Why are yall weird about that question?

Lemme break it down Into TWO main reasons.

1. Imagine going to a restaurant and ordering the chicken dish.

It sounds delicious - your server says it comes with 2 sides, it's super flavorful, and it's his favorite dish.

But, when the server brings the food around, he slaps a plate of raw, uncooked chicken in front of you.

You'd be like - what the HECK is this? 

You got an ingredient, but the dish wasn't done.

The problem? The chicken you received was definitely part of the recipe, BUT what you received wasn't close to the full meal.

Because while we definitely offer dry needling in our treatment plans, it is NEVER the full solution or the long term solution.

Needling and other manual therapies/modalities can be a helpful PART of the process, but they don't fully solve the problem. They can provide some relief in the short term, while we do the things that actually fully solve the problem.

THE REASON BEING...

The PAIN is not the problem. The pain is a SIGNAL of a problem. The pain is the EFFECT. 

We treat the CAUSES.

I get it - needling is super cool. You literally stick needles in muscles and attach them to electrical stimulation to make the muscles contract.

As a PT student, I used to get needling ALL THE TIME. I thought it was going to fix all my problems.

I wasn't able to solve my pain/injury problems for good until I realized this (which brings me to my second point):

2. The things that feel good and decrease pain in the short term...

are NOT the things that solve the problem long term.

We aren't just a "pain relief" clinic.

We aren't a grocery store selling you raw chicken.

We are a "pain and problem SOLVING" clinic.

A lot of people want the quick fix, the "I feel better and I'll see you in a couple of weeks" treatment, the "this solved all my problems and I didn't really have to do anything."

(but then you have to keep going back for the same issue for years)

What's hard about this, is that a lot of places DO offer this "pain relief" service.

and THAT'S why you have to go so frequently (sometimes more than 2-3 times per week!)

I bet you feel really good when you leave.

But does that feeling last?

What's worse, we've talked to so many people who have experienced something like this:

They go to PT 2-3x a week, for 8-12 weeks, and at the end of it, they get discharged, they FEEL better, but then they go back to what they were doing before, and their problem comes back.

It's because NOTHING has changed.

They attacked the effect. Not the cause.

The problem was never solved.

To me, maybe this is an ego thing, but if someone is coming in week after week with the same issue for months and I'm just needling them every time and we're not making significant progress (aka needing less needles) ... I'm not doing my job. I'm just making you rely on me and my fancy needles forever. 

This is obviously a tough conversation to have on the phone, especially if you've had relief with needling or someone else highly recommended it.

But if you're constantly just being needled... ask yourself:

Do you just want pain relief?

or do you also want to solve this problem for good?

Because needling doesn’t solve your problems. It just feels good in the short term.

REMEMBER, there are two separate buckets. The problem is that people think they're the same.

Things that feel good and provide "relief"

are NOT the things that fully solve the problem. 

YOU CAN HAVE BOTH!

If you are consistently overflowing the cup... 

(overflowing symbolizing load exceeding capacity, having pain or injuries)

Then yeah, taking some water out will help for now.

But what if you need your cup to be able to hold all that water?

Then you have to build a bigger cup. Want an example of how we used dry needling as a part of our client's overall treatment plan? Watch this video!

REMEMBER... If you're in pain, feeling frustrated, and feeling like you've tried everything without success, consider this:

The things that relieve pain and feel good

are NOT the things that fully solve the problem (or prevent it from coming back).

The reason it's so frustrating, is because you're spending all your time and energy on pain relief, so it FEELS like you're making progress. You FEEL better in/after the session. You FEEL like you're spending a lot of time on this problem.

BUT, you're attacking the wrong thing.

The PAIN is not the problem. The pain is a SIGNAL of a problem. The pain is the EFFECT. 

Address the CAUSES.