Dry Needling “IMS” (Intramuscular stimulation)
Dry Needling, also known as “IMS” (Intramuscular stimulation), is a relatively new and super popular treatment technique that a lot of physiotherapists used in treatments.
So – what the heck IS it? And how can it help you with your pain/injury and get you moving better?
In a quick overview, dry needling is quite literally inserting a tiny thin-filament needle directly into a muscle, looking to get a ‘twitch-response’ from the muscle, and quickly removing it. (This is unlike traditional acupuncture, where multiple needle are left in for an extended period of time along meridian lines.)
In a nutshell – the EXACT mechanisms of how dry needling helps are still being studied, but there are MULTIPLE positive benefits of this treatment technique.
Benefits of dry needling include:
- Decrease muscular pain and tension. There are MULTIPLE reasons why muscles get tight and/or go into spasm (static posture all day, acute injuries, etc), but dry needling really helps to release that tension in the muscle/the trigger points in the muscle, which can immediately help with mobility and reduce pain
- Improve blood flow to certain areas. Blood flow is amazing for helping any injury heal, as blood is the transporter of nutrients and oxygen to the site of injury
- Neurophysiological Effects (decreasing pain!). When the needle goes into the muscle or trigger point and there is a twitch response [or even without a twitch response], it is communicating with nerve endings in the muscle, which is relaying information via our nervous system back up to our brain (our control center), which can further decrease our overall sense of pain and further help to reduce muscle tightness and tone.
- Chemical effects. When the needle is inserted to the muscle and gets the muscle to twitch, it produces a whole cascade of chemical events – which in theory help to release those ‘feel good’ chemicals, leading to you feeling even better
In summary, dry needling can be quite an effective tool in helping you with your pain and injury. WIth that said – it is important to note that this is just a PART of your treatment plan. Education, hands on treatment, and MOVEMENT/exercise to help maintain those awesome tissue changes will still be important. It is also worth noting that your therapist would never encourage this as a treatment if you do not like needles, or if they believe that your injury or pain would not benefit from this treatment modality.
If this sounds like something you are interested in or would benefit from, we would love to help!
