Are the needles worth it?

Hey everyone!

As part of both my preop and postop recovery, I have been following a dry needling regiment through my physical therapist. I am here to share some pros and cons and any information to help if you should consider the option.

Dry needling is a commonly used method of therapy to reduce tightness, similar to acupuncture. It can be used in a wide variety of muscles, especially when they are difficult to access through stretching or restrictions on range-of-motion.

At first, I never thought I would let someone stick needles in me repetitively and that it could possibly be beneficial. For a few weeks, my physical therapist kept asking me if I had played with the idea and I realized he really believed I could get something out of it. I starting to consider it as I knew one thing for sure: I would much rather dry needling than surgery and at the time, there was a possibility it could make the difference.

***I recommend, if you are considering it, to research and hear others' experiences before going in, just for sanity reasons:)

After gathering some information, asking my physical therapist any questions I had, and mentally preparing, I decided to try it. I continued all the way until surgery, and after being cleared to reintroduce it, I started back up after.

Now, some may wonder, why did I have to reintroduce needling after surgery? Shouldn't surgery have fixed the problem? Due to compensation and being very limited on range-of-motion for over a month post-op I became very tight in some areas that were used to be stretched everyday or were having to work in a different way than normal. So, the needling post-op was just another method to help with recovery. I, now, am at point where I could definitely still benefit, but seeing how my body does without needling is important too, so I have stopped for a while as I am working my way back into dance.

PROS:

• releases a lot of tightness in a quick way

• can address muscle tightness that is hard to access other ways

• can shorten recovery time

• could, in some cases, be the last final puzzle piece in healing/releasing tightness/relieving pain

• nowhere near as painful as I would have expected

• can eliminate areas that may be causing pain

• can help you lose fear of needles;) I used to cry everytime I got a shot, but I don't think I ever will again haha!

CONS:

• still pretty painful

• can create soreness

• process of trial and error to find the muscles that are causing the pain-- the good thing is if it releasing tension in other muscles, but still not eliminating the pain, you are still releasing tightness that someday would probably become a problem!

• needles are not fun in general (Lol!)

• can mask pain which can be bad if you are trying to assess how much PT is lowering pain

Honestly, I see no harm in trying out dry needling! Once you get past the fear aspect, my mindset is if it can help me, then I am game! I will suffer through a couple needles to get back to dancing if that is what it takes!

#dryneedling #roadtorecovery #therapy #physicaltherapy #danceteam #pros #cons #tips