Dry Needling for Back Pain

You're not alone if you live with back pain. It affects millions of people across the world and for many, it's not just a temporary inconvenience but a constant, ongoing condition that varies in intensity but never really goes away. 

While conventional treatments like medication and physiotherapy can alleviate the symptoms of back pain, many sufferers are turning to dry needling, an emerging technique in the field of pain management, to treat their condition. 

In this article, we’re going to explain how dry needling in Okotoks works and why it's an effective treatment option for back pain.

Causes of Back Pain

Many types of back pain exist, ranging from mild uneasiness to chronic, crippling agony. A number of conditions may bring about your back pain. They include muscle strains (most often from overuse or poor movement patterns), herniated discs (when a disc between your vertebrae bulges or ruptures, it can irritate nearby nerves), and postural issues (like sitting for long stretches, which can also lead to sciatica). Arthritis can cause joint pain in your spine, and spinal stenosis can also cause a great deal of discomfort. Whether you're suffering from back pain now or trying to avoid it in the future, understanding these common back pain causes can help.

What is Dry Needling?

Muscles should be flexible and relaxed, but 30% of your muscles might be taut at any given time. A taut muscle that harbors a "trigger point" can cause pain. Dry needling is an excellent technique for reducing the tension in the muscle and resetting the trigger point so that it stops referring pain elsewhere and returns to a normal state. 

Benefits of Dry Needling for Back Pain

Dry needling is a method for relieving the tension caused by muscle and nerve dysfunction. The treatment helps your back pain in the following ways;

Trigger Point Release

Tight muscles, imbalances, and inflammation may be straining your spine. The tight muscles form tight bands or trigger points that can be painful to touch. Dry needling goes straight to these trigger points in your back muscles and helps relieve your pain and muscle tightness. 

Improved Blood Flow

Dry needling dilates the small blood vessels in your back. The treatment improves blood flow to your tissues, which helps flush out toxins. It also gets the essential nutrients and oxygen to your muscles and their nerve endings. 

Pain Reduction

During dry needling, your muscles create a reflex response or twitch reaction to the needles. This results in endorphins—your body's natural pain relievers—being released. This treatment not only takes care of the immediate pain at the site of the needling but also has an ameliorative effect on referred pain elsewhere in the body. 

What to Expect During Your Dry Needling Treatment for Back Pain

Dry needling treatment for back pain starts with an assessment of your symptoms and medical history, Your therapist will use the information to create a tailored treatment plan for you. During treatment, your therapist will feel for tight areas and insert dry needles to ease tension. 

Experiencing some soreness or slight bruising after undergoing dry needling is normal and should resolve within one to two days. Light stretching and the application of heat or ice, as recommended by your therapist, can assist in alleviating any discomfort you may feel following the treatment.

Does Dry Needling Alone Work for Back Pain? 

While dry needling can offer substantial relief, it is not a standalone treatment. Most often, it is used in conjunction with other physiotherapy modalities that work together to help your back. Tailored to each patient, physiotherapy in Okotoks program complements dry needling and improves the effects of your treatment. 

Your physiotherapist may recommend any of these in combination with dry needling;

Exercise

Your core and back muscles support your spine. By doing specific exercises to strengthen them, you can cure and prevent many back problems, particularly if you do the right ones for you and your condition. Stiffness and restricted movement can often be relieved by a good stretch. Your therapist may guide you through safe and effective stretching to stabilize and strengthen your back muscles.

Manual Therapy

With a combination of manual therapy techniques and dry needling, you should see improved results in your back pain. Your physiotherapist will apply this hands-on technique in the painful region to relieve tension and improve blood flow.

Posture Correction

A lot of back pain is related to poor posture. When you're at your best posture, your bones naturally "stack" in a line from your head down to your tailbone. And whenever you're at your worst, the spine is under a lot of stress. Your therapist will teach you proper posture for different activities, including walking, sitting, and exercising.

Self-Care and Education

To prevent flare-ups of back pain, it is essential to grasp the fundamental reason behind its occurrence and to know how to control it. Your therapist will suggest a regimen of stretches, lifestyle modifications, and self-care that you can easily manage to keep your back healthy. 

Is Dry Needling Right for You?

Whether you're an athlete with a pulled muscle, someone who's sustained an unfortunate injury, or just a poor posture office worker, dry needling can help your condition. When performed by a licensed and trained physiotherapist, it's a safe and effective treatment that can be an excellent part of your recovery plan.

Although you may feel sore after the treatment, this is normal and should relieve you within a few hours. 

Conclusion

An effective and focused means of relieving muscle tension and pain associated with your back is dry needling. When used alongside other treatments in physiotherapy—like manual therapy and exercises—dry needling can accelerate your recovery, improve your mobility, and can help you get back to the life you were leading before back pain. 

If you are dealing with back pain and want to know what might act as a feasible, long-term solution, ask your physiotherapist if dry needling could work its way into your treatment.