Pain is the most common reason that people seek acupuncture treatments, and there are numerous techniques to relieve pain that fall under the acupuncture umbrella including shallow needling, deep needling, electroacupuncture, cupping, and gua sha. Acupuncturists have been treating tight, hyperirritable bands of muscle for many centuries by using acupuncture techniques that penetrate muscle tissue and cause muscles to twitch involuntarily to loosen them and restore function. While dry needling may be considered a style of acupuncture, acupuncture is not dry needling. Acupuncture needles are much thinner, generally don’t hurt when they are inserted, and have less side effects like bruising or bleeding that is often caused by hypodermic needles. Today, acupuncture needles are used for dry needling instead of thicker hypodermic needles. Simons, “Dry Needling includes the use of sterile disposable acupuncture needles to improve circulation and blood flow to the affected muscle trigger point areas.” David Simons wrote the authoritative text on trigger points including their referral patterns, causes and treatment. Simply stimulating the muscle to release the trigger points was enough to alleviate the pain (dry needling). Seymour Rinzler had enough information about trigger points and referral patterns to provide illustrations for many causes of musculoskeletal pain.Įventually, research by a Czech doctor in 1979 named Karel Lewit found that it was not necessary to inject any substances to relieve the pain caused by trigger points. Research in 1949 showed that cardiac pain could have a somatic component that was caused by trigger points. Janet Travell further studied this type of pain and its clinical implications and eventually found that trigger points are the source of pain for numerous musculoskeletal pain issues. Interestingly enough, the injections produced pain away from the injection site and in some cases the most pain was felt in other structures that were not the muscle.Īfter this realization, physicians began injecting trigger points with local anesthetics or other substances to relieve pain (wet needling). This was found by injecting saline (an irritant) into muscles and observing the pain sensations that were felt as a result. This research initially found that pain can occur in areas away from the actual site of pain (referred pain). Brief History of Dry Needlingĭry needling originated separately from traditional acupuncture and started with research on referral pain from various muscles by J.H. Since all of these styles of acupuncture use acupuncture needles, they are considered acupuncture even though the rationale for needling differs in each one. There are also many other styles of acupuncture that do not rely on traditional acupoints like ear acupuncture, scalp acupuncture, Korean hand acupuncture, and Master Tung style acupuncture to name a few. It differs significantly from the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) style many people associate with acupuncture where acupuncture points are used in accordance with Chinese medicine principles to alter physiological processes in the body. Some will say that it is separate from acupuncture altogether, but in its current form it uses acupuncture needles to release trigger points and relieve pain. It is focused on anatomical needling based on muscle locations and trigger point referral patterns. Dry needling vs Acupunctureĭry needling is a specialized acupuncture style. Dry needling involves a specific needling technique that seeks to identify and release areas of myofascial constriction to deactivate trigger points and release tight bands of muscle. It is called “dry” needling because acupuncture needles are solid and do not contain any fluid in them like hypodermic needles (“wet” needles).
Acupuncturists may use dry needling as a standalone technique or incorporate other styles of acupuncture, electroacupuncture, cupping, gua sha, or herbal liniments as needed. It has also been referred to as intramuscular stimulation (IMS).
It often incorporates myofascial trigger point release of muscles which in some cases corresponds with traditional acupuncture point locations. Dry needling is an acupuncture style that is focused on muscles and anatomical needling instead of traditional acupuncture points.