Most people who see dry needling for the first time tend to assume that it is acupuncture. In truth, these treatments are different. While acupuncture focuses on altering the energy flow in your body, dry needling is a scientifically proven technique of rehabilitative therapy employed for an array of reasons. Also known as intramuscular stimulation, dry needling has seen a surge in popularity over the past years due to the advantages it provides individuals that are recuperating from an injury. If you need rehabilitative therapy for an injury, consider the following pros of choosing dry needling from your local physiotherapy clinic.
Dry needling improves blood circulation
If your muscles are injured, they typically become tight. The tightness resultantly impedes the normal flow of blood to these affected muscles and this, in turn, restricts the delivery of oxygen to the affected areas. So instead of your injured muscles healing, they end up causing you extreme pain since they are not receiving the oxygenated blood that they require. Dry needling is a great solution for his problem since it helps in the relaxation of the tense parts of your muscle to improve the circulation of blood to these areas.
Dry needling accelerates healing
The second advantage you get to enjoy when you elect to have dry needling as part of your physio is the faster healing that you will experience. However, you may be surprised as to how this works. Unlike a majority of healing techniques that do not aggravate the injured site, intramuscular stimulation works by creating minor injuries at the site. The muscle then combats these injuries by causing inflammation at the site and this is the body's natural way of initiating healing. When the site becomes inflamed, protein and collagen are formed and this helps in the rehabilitation of the muscle.
Dry needling restores muscle contractibility
If you sustained an injury due to being an athlete, whether as an amateur or a pro, you may be hoping to get back to playing in the shortest time possible. However, you need your muscles as flexible as possible if you are to play well. Dry needling is perfect for this since the procedure functions to releasing the tension in your taut muscle fibres. The therapy minimises the occurrence of spasm since the intramuscular stimulation will help restore thee extensibility of your muscles. The better the contractibility of your muscles, the better your sports performance.
For more information on your options, contact a physiotherapy clinic.