Needle Little Help? How Dry Needling Can Relieve Your Pain
Pinpointing the cause of your pain can feel a lot like searching for a needle in a haystack. Luckily, treatments for injuries have evolved to include options like physical therapy and massages, but there’s also a little-known treatment option that has been helping patients find life-changing relief. A practice called dry needling just might be the treatment to target your pain. What does it treat? Soft-tissue pain accumulates as trigger points in the muscle near tightened skeletal tissue. These points will not only give you palpable pain, but they can also wreak havoc on your muscular and nervous systems, increasing the possibility for more injuries, trigger points, and pain recurrence. At Fyzical El Paso, we’ve seen recent and wonderful success in treating plantar fasciitis with dry needling, but this technique also helps fight tendinitis, muscle strains, hip and back pain, dental and jaw discomfort, chronic knee and wrist pain, post-surgery side effects, shoulder injuries, and more. Dry needling can also be used to supplement other forms of treatment. How does it work? In a dry needling process, trained professionals prick a patient with thin, small needles to cause a twitch reaction in the muscle. This
prompts the release of pressure and promotes relaxation in specific trigger points. Tension in the muscles, tendons, and joints will release, and nerves and blood vessels will regain full functionality.
This process is similar to a massage, but dry needling is more accurate and can relieve deeper pains. Most patients also notice the similarities between dry needling and acupuncture, but the two differ. Acupuncture is an effective practice based in Eastern medicinal principles, and the process is done by pinning generic acupuncture points. Dry needling is more specific to each patient, and a medical examination is imperative to this technique. Does it hurt? Because the needle is so thin, most patients will not feel pain during treatment. However, once the specific trigger point is located, the muscle twitch can create some discomfort. Following the treatment, patients have reported soreness for a day or two, which is similar to that of post-exercise pain, but staying active can help alleviate this pain.
To learn how dry needling can help you mitigate your pain, visit www.fyzicalelpaso.com .
Have a
Citrus and Avocado Salad
LAUGH
INGREDIENTS
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1 blood, cara cara, or navel orange, sliced 1/8-inch thick and deseeded 1 Meyer or regular lemon, sliced 1/8-inch thick and deseeded 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
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1/4 small red onion, thinly sliced 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 bunch arugula
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1/2 cup fresh mint leaves 1 avocado, cut into wedges Salt and pepper, to taste
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DIRECTIONS
1. Heat oven to 425 F.
juice. Season with salt and let sit for 5 minutes.
2. In a rimmed baking sheet, toss citrus slices with 1 tablespoon oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast citrus until lightly charred and caramelized, about 10–15 minutes. Let cool.
4. Add citrus, arugula, and mint to onion mixture. Drizzle with remaining oil, season with salt and pepper to taste, and toss thoroughly.
3. Meanwhile, in a large mixing
5. Add avocado, combing very gently to not crush avocado.
bowl, combine onion and lemon
fyzicalelpaso.com • 3
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