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Dry Needling Technique Helps Get the Healing Point Across

Last Updated Mar 2013


By: Paul Killoren PT, DPT

dry needlingYou’ve never experienced dry needling before. We understand. You might be a little anxious. Allow me the opportunity to possibly ease your mind and give you my personal and professional experience with the Triggerpoint Dry Needling technique. I’ll start from the beginning; Level one of Functional Dry Needling. We took this course through Kinetacore in Brighton, Colo. In my humble personal opinion, they provide the best “dry needling” certification out there.

The three day course is intense: physically, mentally and emotionally. Physically because we are both clinician and pin cushion throughout the three full days of the course. Yes, every muscle we learn to treat in level one has been needled on ourselves, numerous times. The insertion of the needle is essentially unnoticeable (Wisconsin mosquitos will present more insertional pain than the filament needles used) and the twitch response is also not a “painful” experience. Mentally this course demands every ounce of anatomical, physiological and theoretical wisdom there is. Not page-in-a-textbook origin-insertion anatomy, but 3-dimensional layers of myofascial tissue with complex neural networks and spiraling vascular bundles anatomy. Emotionally in preparing for the written and practical exams. Overall, this course prepared us incredibly well to safely and effectively practice Triggerpoint Dry Needling.

But as someone with a healthy skepticism of truly “game-changing” singular techniques, how would this new tool affect my own physical therapy practice patterns? In all honesty, it took two weeks. Two weeks of using this physical therapy technique with Microsoft’s cognitively-advanced, but postural-challenged population for me to realize what a powerful tool it was. Patient A improved combined cervical rotation from 80 degrees to more than 140 degrees. Patient B who had essentially given up on running because of a knee “arthritis” diagnosis, checking in with me, reporting no pain after his first three mile run in more than a year. Patient C had already attempted night splinting, PRP, and a walking boot for plantar fasciitis and was reporting pain 50 percent what she had reported the week before.

physical therapy techniqueThe list goes on: a crossfit athlete able to continue workouts, a college basketball player with chronically tight calves improving in his agility and flexibility goals, a patient with MS improving in knee and foot pain, an older man hopeful that surgery wasn’t his only option, and countless postural-impaired employees with less neck, shoulder, and low back pain.

Triggerpoint Dry Needling has quickly become the cornerstone of my practice as a manual physical therapist. This technique that has been used and proven in the military and professional sports for more than a decade is now readily accessible to the public. I believe it will be as “game-changing” for physical therapy as it has been for my personal practice. If you are anxious, ask your physical therapist. If you are skeptical, try it and assess the outcomes for yourself.

About the Author: Dr. Paul Killoren is a member in both the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) and the American Academy of Manual Physical Therapists (AAOMPT). He is also a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) through the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA).

Click here for more articles by Paul Killoren, PT, DPT, CSCS.

Therapy professionals, if you enjoy writing or would like to share your expertise and are interested in becoming a PutMeBackTogether contributor, please click here.

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Recent Comments (there is 1 comment)
I have used dry needling in my clinic for the past 2 years. As with any other technique if used for the correct condition and performed correctly the results are amazing. Just an example; a patient post rotator cuff repair and capsular shift 8 weeks post op after discharging his sling 6 weeks as per the surgeon he had 20 degrees external rotation, after needling (one session) the subscapularis and lat musculature he achieved 80 degrees external rotation and maintained this with a stretching program. Also a patient with chronic headaches that had seen multiple doctors for 6 months with no results, 3 sessions of dry needling the Subocccipitals and upper trapezius musculature is now SX free and maintains this with a home stretching program. Research takes time and money, but there are many techniques we do in the clinic in the hands of a skilled practitioner that get our patients amazing results every day. I am fully supportive of researched based medicine but if your mind is closed till the research proves it you will never advance the profession. - Rudy Haberzettl (via LinkedIn)
Posted By: PMBT


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