Advanced-Level Dry Needling
What is Dry Needling?
Dry needling is a painless, safe technique for treating many musculoskeletal and neuromuscular conditions. During a treatment, one or more thin, monofilament needles are inserted into a muscle trigger point. A trigger point is a local band of tight, irritable and dysfunctional muscle tissue. This often emerges because of injury, overuse or poor movement patterns. Trigger points can disrupt your muscle function, restrict your range of motion or cause pain and tenderness. Dry Needling is often paired with electrical stimulation to enhance the effects of the treatment. This combination causes a gentle contraction and relaxation of the irritable muscle, which helps the muscle relax further. Dry Needling can also be used to mobilize scars and restricted scar tissue as well as used in treatment to ligament and tendon injuries to promote healing specifically at that location.
Providing top-level athletic training services for athletes of all levels.
When dry needling is applied to an affected muscle or trigger point, it can decrease muscle tightness, increase blood flow and reduce pain. Patients often report immediate relief after treatment. The needles remain in your muscle for a short period of time — usually less than 5 minutes during a treatment. This depends on the treatment location, number of needles used and treatment goals. About 25% of individuals experience immediate relief of their symptoms, while the remainder may notice improvement later that day- up to 72 hours after treatment. 4th & Goal clients have experienced the greatest benefits when combined with adherence to an individualized home exercise program. We use Dry Needling as a vehicle to reduce spasm, increase blood flow or restore the body’s balance so that it can heal- we ask our clients to then do the work to get the tissue “retrained” so that they do not need constant treatment.
The Power of 3
In years of Dry Needling experience, it has become evident in our practice that with most common diagnoses, patients should be exponentially better in 3 or fewer dry needling sessions. On occasion, a condition may require an additional session, but with advanced-level techniques and clients that adhere to a home exercise program, not only do conditions improve- they generally stay that way. 4th & Goal Athletic Training loves our clients, but our goal is to get athletes back in action as soon as possible. We do not require weeks of treatment sessions; come in for treatment and guidance, put in the work at home and off you go! This approach saves our clients valuable time and money.
Treatment strategies are not only about Dry Needling alone. Our practice incorporates examination of an athlete’s kinetic chain (a classification system that considers interrelated body systems and how each works with another to facilitate smooth efficient performance), identification of potential muscle weakness or restriction, as well as manual treatment to restore function. Manual treatment may include use of trigger point release, myofascial decompression (cupping), myofascial release tools, dynamic active release techniques and kinesiology tape application. Clients receive 1 on 1 guidance on treatments that they can complete at home and exercise prescription to facilitate correcting the kinetic chain challenges identified. Emphasis is placed on adherence to a prescribed home exercise program, as clinical treatment alone is rarely the answer to resolution of athletic injury.
Do you treat my injury?
Muscular Conditions
Muscle strain/spasm & pain of over 40 muscles of the upper and lower extremity, spine, jaw, and cervicogenic headaches.
Scars
Surgical incision scars, lacerations scars, fibrous scar tissue.
Acute injury, restore homeostasis
Used in the reduction of acute swelling from a sprain, conditions that require the body to restore its natural ability to heal itself.
Tendon, ligament
Achilles, patellar & quad tendon, golfer’s/tennis elbow, plantar fascia, tendons and ligaments of the hand and foot.
