Whole Health Therapies
FUNCTIONAL DRY NEEDLING & IMS
This technique considers every muscle in regard to function and pain.
Dry needling is a treatment designed to directly ease muscle pain by targeting trigger points and surrounding areas with thin wire filament needles similar to those used in acupuncture. Trigger points are hyper-irritable spots found in tensed muscles. They may be painful upon touch, contraction, stretching of the affected muscle, and they also often cause referred pain in surrounding areas. Unlike traditional acupuncture where needles are inserted according to meridian pathways, dry needles are inserted into structures to improve blood flow, therefore encouraging healing of the area.
The goals of dry needling are:
- Alleviating pain
- Restoring motion and function
- Inducing a healing response in the tissue, to speed up recovery time
IMS (Intra-muscular Stimulation) is also often used alongside needling when appropriate. It involves having an electric current directed into the needles to stimulate the muscles. The result is an acceleration of the needling process, and pain relief by fatiguing the irritated muscle. As a Certified Dry Needling practitioner, our physiotherapist, Stephanie, is experienced in using Dry Needling and IMS as a part of her treatments.
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