DRY NEEDLING
What is dry needling and how does it work?
Dry needling is the use of a filament needle into tight, stiff or painful muscles, and is used to relieve these symptoms. Dry needling is thought to decrease your symptoms by affecting the local area via physiological and chemical changes in conjunction with central nervous system responses.
Dry needling VS Acupuncture
Dry needling is a western treatment option performed by placing needles into taut muscle fibres. Acupuncture is based on Eastern Chinese medicine treatment focusing on your body’s meridians.
What to expect
Dry needling can be done in a conservative way to minimise discomfort. The practitioner will often get a ‘twitch’ response from the underlying tissue which may cause some slight pain at the time but will be monitored by your practitioner. Needles may be inserted for anywhere between 30 seconds to 10 minutes depending on the condition which is being treated.
After your treatment
Dry needling can cause some adverse effects such as pain/bruising/swelling in the local area within the first 24 hours after your treatment. The use of heat in the hours afterwards will reduce pain. If bruising has occurred, then you should ice the area (as soon as possible) for 10minutes to reduce the severity of bruising.
Contraindication for needling
Please inform your Practitioner if you are:
on blood thinners such as aspirin or Warfarin
If you are pregnant, or trying to get pregnant and may be in the early stages of pregnancy
If you have any skin infections
Risks
Risks are minimal and our Practitioners are highly trained, but can include damage to viscera (including lungs and other organ tissues) and bruising/swelling as mentioned above. Our Practitioners have all had advanced training to negate these risks.
TMJ/TMD Jaw Pain
Temporomandibular joint disorder (TMD) refers to a condition that affects the jaw joint and the muscles surrounding it. Some common symptoms of TMD include pain or discomfort in the jaw joint, difficulty opening or closing the mouth, clicking or popping sounds when opening the mouth, and headaches.
Myotherapy treatments and exercise rehab are recommended as a part of the treatment plan for TMD, with the aim of reducing pain, improving range of motion, and increasing jaw stability.
How can Myotherapy do that??
By reducing muscle tension via manual therapy techniques including intraoral pressure point along with myofascial release or dry needling can help reduce tension in the muscles surrounding the jaw joint.
Joint mobilisation in another form on manual therapy that can be used to mobilise the joint in turn reducing the amount of clicking or popping felt/heard.
This can help alleviate pain and improve range of motion.
Strengthening exercises will be incorporated into the treatment as well, the stronger the muscles the more support they are able to give the joint and aid stability and reduce the of further injury.
Last but by no means the least important, I will help you to figure out of there is any underlying issues contributing to your TMD issues, including but not limited to sleep hygiene, tongue/jaw posture, stress or anxieties. This may require a multidisciplinary approach which I will chat to you about.
Overall, Myotherapy and exercises can be effective in treating TMD by reducing pain, improving range of motion, and increasing jaw stability. It is important to work with a healthcare provider who is knowledgeable about TMD to develop a personalized treatment plan that is tailored to your specific needs and symptoms.
Headaches and Neck pain
Living with neck pain, plus or minus headaches can be incredibly frustrating and debilitating. Due to the neck being one of the most complex areas on the body consisting of dozens of bones, ligaments, blood vessels and nerves, many people live with this pain for years before finding relief.
Luckily for you I have done a lot of training and ongoing study for the treatment of neck pain. I have also gained many years of clinical experience be too able to assess of your pain and provide specific treatment. The aim of the treatment is to reduce discomfort and restore your necks natural mobility.
There are many types of headaches I cover including, migraines with/without aura, menstrual migraines, tension type headache, cervicogenic headache, trigeminal neuralgia, just to name a few more common ones. That stiff neck you can often wake with can also benefit from a treatment or two as well.
Why try Myotherapy when you’ve tried so many treatments that haven’t worked over the years?? It works….. taking my word for it is hard especially when you’re in pain, I believe the thorough history taking, listening to your symptoms and patterns over time along with a thorough hands on assessment, are the backbones of a good treatment to get be able to get to the bottom of your pain/discomfort.
Give it a go!!