Dry Needling by definition is a thin filiform needle penetrating the skin to stimulate underlying myofacial trigger points for an intramuscular manual therapy. Dry needling is one technique physical therapist use in a treatment plan for musculoskeletal issues. "Dry" due to the lack of medication being injected. I tell my patients that it is a more aggressive form of massage, into the muscle, with a needle! The target is trigger points/tightness/resistance within the muscle that will result in pain relief and improved movement. Due to the more aggressive nature of the treatment, our body views these tiny microtraumas as injury and sends white blood cells (aka kick starts healing).
It is not acupuncture for a few reasons. First, I am not an acupuncturist. As a physical therapist, my training is based in western medicine and that training ultimately drives where and why I place the needles. Acupuncture is based in Eastern medicine in which body meridians dictate where needles are placed. In many ways, Dry needling and acupuncture are similar. The needles are the exact same and since acupuncture has been around for a really long time, there are tons of choices in length, material, gauge, ect. In dry needling, we have points that correspond with nerve pathways and if you look at the images of our pathways and their meridian maps side by side there is a lot of placements that are the same. For many unknown reasons acupuncture is very effective for some people and I do believe dry needling benefits from some of the Eastern medicine principles of energy flow that is not well understood.
Intramuscular Stimulation is an adjunct treatment to dry needling alone. Often, I will choose to add electrical stimulation to the needles for an enhanced pain reliever. Muscles that are stimulated deep into the muscle with electric current will have decreased tone/tightness as the muscle relaxes during/after treatment. The electrical treatment also helps to trick the small fiber pain nerves by stimulating the faster large nerves. Much the same reason you rub a painful spot, you feel the rubbing instead of the pain.
