Traditional acupuncture and dry needling are both techniques to ease myofascial pain. They are performed by highly trained healthcare providers who place a thin needle into the muscle tissue.
Acupuncture stimulates or sedates the flow of the ch’i along specific points of the body, helping the body to heal naturally. It is used to alleviate pain arising from various musculoskeletal conditions, such as tension headaches, lower back pain, and shoulder pain.
Dry needling is a type of acupuncture that involves the insertion of a thin sterile needle into a tight/painful muscle with the goal of relaxing the tissue. These painful areas contain a trigger point, which is a tight band that can be painful to touch and create local or referred pain to other areas. During dry needling, a local twitch response is induced, followed by the removal of the needle. This technique can be effective for neuromusculoskeletal pain and movement impairments.
At 416 Physio, registered physiotherapists provide these treatments as part of your physiotherapy session. For insurance purposes, it will be covered under your Physiotherapy plan and not Acupuncture. Please check with your insurance provider to confirm your coverage details.
Acupuncture and dry needling are used to:
Relieve pain & soreness
Improve function
Encourage natural health & wellness
Treat muscle spasms, aches, tension, and trigger points
Treat conditions that are healing slower than expected
Conditions we treat using acupuncture:
Neck pain
Headaches/TMJ
Shoulder pain
Tendinopathies/tendinitis
Rotator cuff
Golfer’s and tennis elbow
Achilles tendinopathies
Osteoarthritis (spine, hip, knee)
Whiplash
Low back pain
Chronic pain
Carpal tunnel syndrome
Postural dysfunction
Radiculopathies (nerve pain)
Fibromyalgia
And much more…