Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture
Aruna Bakhru in Nutrition and Integrative Medicine, 2018
Acupuncture is a healing art that employs Chinese medicine theory, especially Meridian Theory, to insert needles into acupoints, specific points on the body, accompanied with manipulation and/or stimulation with pressure, heat, light, or electricity. In recent years, new acupuncture treatment principles have developed based on anatomical structure, such as dry needling. Despite its similarity to Ashi Point Puncture, which has been used for thousands of years, dry needling is a standalone method and also belongs under acupuncture's scope of practice. The original modality was called “acupuncture and moxibustion.” Moxibustion, also known as moxa, is the application of burning mugwort toward acupuncture points on the body, either individually or in addition to acupuncture needles. Since the burning herb creates smoke, it is restricted in office buildings with central air conditioning and fire alarm systems.
Medical Management of Myofascial Pain Syndrome
Gary W. Jay in Chronic Pain, 2007
A systematic review from the Cochrane Database found that the efficacy of needling therapies (direct and indirect dry and wet needling) in the treatment of pain from MTrPs is neither supported nor refuted by research (23 trials, N=955 patients) (20). Inspite of objective clinical practice, this review showed no differences between TrPIs with various injectates or between wet or dry needling. In spite of this, the authors of this review recommend that the method employed be the safest and most comfortable for a patient. Unfortunately, this form of equivocation appears to make so-called evidence-based medicine (EBM) systematic reviews less than, clinically, a “gold standard.”
Treatment of Myofascial Pain Syndromes
Mark V. Boswell, B. Eliot Cole in Weiner's Pain Management, 2005
Dry needling is the act of inserting a needle into the trigger point without injecting any substance. It can be performed by anyone who is licensed to give injections (physicians, nurses, physician’s assistants) and by physical therapists in an increasing number of states in the United States, and in other countries such as Spain and Switzerland, and by acupuncturists. Dry needling elicits a twitch response in the muscle, a response that seems to be related to pain relief. To be most effective, the needle should enter the trigger point itself. A detailed account of dry needling has been published by Dommerholt (2004).
Effects of dry needling and stretching exercise versus stretching exercise only on pain intensity, function, and sonographic characteristics of plantar fascia in the subjects with plantar fasciitis: a parallel single-blinded randomized controlled trial
Published in Physiotherapy Theory and Practice, 2023
Saman Salehi, Azadeh Shadmehr, Gholamreza Olyaei, Siamak Bashardoust, Seyed Mohsen Mir
Dry needling is a popular alternative method for the treatment of musculoskeletal pain disorders by reducing the number and the sensitivity of the nodules or spots related to the pain (Dunning et al., 2014; Pecos-Martín et al., 2015). Salehi et al. (2019) in a review article suggested that there was some evidence for effectiveness of dry needling in subjects with PF. When dry needling and other interventions were compared, the results displayed that previously published studies on the effect of dry needling in subjects with PF are not consistent in methodology. Of the seven included studies that were assessed, some studies had not control group and these studies were used to combine of dry needling and acupuncture, one of the selected studies was a case-report study. Also, the studies have used different techniques for needling. For that, in the review was concluded that dry needling might be useful in subjects with PF, although there is limited evidence.
Treatment of thoracic spine pain and pseudovisceral symptoms with dry needling and manual therapy in a 78-year-old female: A case report
Published in Physiotherapy Theory and Practice, 2022
Results of the physical examination indicated that the patient had a high level of irritability, with impairments in thoracic joint mobility, strength, and motor control. It was hypothesized the patient also had active trigger points that were contributing to her thoracic pain and pain referred anteriorly to her chest. A myofascial trigger point in the thoracic multifidi can create a deep aching cramp as a referred pain sensation. Symptoms can also refer to the chest, along a rib, or downward and outward several thoracic segments (Fernandez-de-Las-Penas, Layton, and Dommerholt, 2015). Due to the patient’s tenderness and reactivity to palpation of the thoracic paraspinal levels T5, T6, and T7, dry needling was determined to be a better treatment option than manual massage or pressure techniques. Dry needling is quick, often minimally painful, and allows the therapist to treat deep musculature. Since the patient did not tolerate prone PA pressure to her thoracic spine, a different position and technique would need to be utilized to address her thoracic joint mobility impairments. Thoracic sustained natural apophyseal glides (SNAGs) were chosen because they are weight bearing and should be painless if appropriate for the patient and performed properly (Mulligan, 2010). It was postulated that the patient’s limited thoracic extension was creating pain when she was positioned in supine for sleep as well as interfering with her breathing. As the patient’s pain levels improved, exercises to improve thoracic extension were added to address these deficits.
Dorsal dry needling to the pronator quadratus muscle is a safe and valid technique: A cadaveric study
Published in Physiotherapy Theory and Practice, 2023
Albert Pérez-Bellmunt, Carlos López-de-Celis, Jacobo Rodríguez-Sanz, César Hidalgo-García, Joseph M. Donnelly, Simón A Cedeño-Bermúdez, César Fernández-de-las-Peñas
The PQ is a deep muscle in the forearm, which cannot be palpated; therefore, dry needling has been advocated as a diagnostic and treatment intervention for trigger points in this muscle (Donnelly, 2019). Dry needling consists of the insertion of a solid filiform needle into a muscle aimed to treating trigger points (Dommerholt and Fernandez-de-las-peñas, 2019). Since dry needling is an invasive procedure; clinicians should consider the presence of adverse events. Two studies have investigated the presence of adverse events after dry needling applied by physical therapists (Boyce et al., 2020; Brady, McEvoy, Dommerholt, and Doody, 2014). They reported similar results where, although most adverse events experienced during dry needling are considered as minor (e.g. mild bleeding, bruising, and pain during the intervention), major events (e.g. pneumothorax and numbness) can also rarely occur (Boyce et al., 2020; Brady, McEvoy, Dommerholt, and Doody, 2014). In fact, McManus and Cleary (2018) described a case report showing a neuropraxia of the radial nerve after application of dry needling at the junction of the middle and distal third of the humerus.
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