It seems like most of us are getting to the point where we’re dealing with muscle pain. That could be due to age, injury, or just the grind of working out consistently. It could be all of the above for me. However, I’m determined to live my life – pain free. This meant letting go of my fear of needles to give dry needling a try during physical therapy.
Let’s be clear. It didn’t happen during the first session though, because no. Haha.
I’m naturally a dramatic person, so my first question was is it going to kill me? It obviously didn’t because I’m here to write about it, but hey. Ask your doctor the questions that you need for peace of mind!
I'm sure you're reading this article because you want the run down on dry needling. Clearly, I'm not a medical professional. I can only share based on my experience. What I’ve learned is that during dry needling, a thin needle is placed inside the skin to reach the trigger point in the muscle(s) which is supposed to alleviate pain. Once the needles were in my body, I definitely felt twitching. It’s the desired response that gives signs that the trigger point, or area of pain, is releasing its tension.
Dry needling is different than acupuncture, but you can Google that on your own.
* Trigger Warning: If you’re squeamish, then this might not be the post for you. You will see pictures and videos of needles going into my skin from this point forward. *
My physical therapist is Dr. Ron Weathers of Embodi Physical Therapy, located in the Charlotte, NC area, and he's definitely one of my favorite doctors! If someone is going to be sticking you with needles, then there has to be a level of trust to keep you safe.
Dry Needling - Manual (with hands)
how it works:
The manual dry needling was the first part. Honestly, with him pistoning that needle back and forth to create a twitch response, it hurt some. It wasn't the worst thing in the world, but like I said in the video, "It's not like I'm eating cookies or something." Meaning, it was tolerable but not enjoyable.
Then he decided to act like Inspector Gadget and brought out equipment to be used for the intramuscular electrical stimulation.
Dry Needling - Intramuscular electrical stimulation
Watch here:
I'm very competitive with myself. Not completely sure how I got this way, but you can see that I definitely wanted to push my tolerance level to achieve the highest result. Once it was on a good setting, it seemed to feel better than him pistoning the needle with his hand to manually create a twitch response.
Watch complete process (Manual, electric, and needle removal) here:
It was interesting to see the needle come out clean a.k.a. no blood.
This video was my first time seeing the process because I'm squeamish and usually close my eyes and focus on breathing. Although you saw my dramatic responses during the video, all in all, it wasn't that bad. This was actually my second time with dry needling and it seems to help! The after effect, for me, is soreness which I mainly felt on the day of treatment and the following day. Fragrance talk
Did you see him lowkey choking of the smell of my perfume in the video? Haha. Oh, the dramatics. That's what happens when you go perfume shopping in the store without taking your mask off (side effects of the COVID-19 pandemic) to smell the fragrance.
Our editor handpicks the products featured, and may earn commission from the links on this page.
The scent is Jazz Club by Maison Margiela and it's definitely got a little kick. It's atypical for me, mainly because of the tobacco note. What I have come to enjoy about the perfume is that its vibe is warm and spicy! Don't let his dramatics stop you from smelling GOOD!!
Here's the fragrance note description:
MORE FROM SO MOTIFFATED:
Not subscribed? No worries, subscribe for free to the So MoTiFFated e-newsletter to stay updated on the latest content!
2 Comments
6/12/2023 01:46:02 pm
Nice article and nice treatment, thank u to explan ur opinion on dry needling with other. 6/12/2023 02:34:33 pm
Thank you so much for your kind words! I'm glad that you enjoyed this article! Leave a Reply. |
