Dry needling is a modern treatment designed to ease muscular pain. Its popularity is growing.

During dry needling, a practitioner inserts several filiform needles into your skin. Filiform needles are fine, single-use, stainless steel needles that don’t inject fluid into the body. That’s why the term “dry” is used.

Practitioners place the needles in “myofascial trigger points” in your muscle or tissue. The points are areas of knotted or hard muscle. Dry needling is also sometimes called intramuscular stimulation.

Dry needling helps release the knot and relieve any muscle pain or spasms. The needles will remain in your skin for a short period of time.

Is Dry Needling the same as Acupuncture?

While dry needling and acupuncture may look similar, they are in fact quite different procedures. Acupuncture relies on the Chinese medicine principles of stimulating the flow of Qi by placing needles in acupuncture points, whereas Dry Needling is based on the concept of reducing pain and tension in hypertonic (tight) muscle points (myofascial trigger points) through a neurophysiological process of muscle stimulation.

Dry Needling is safe and mostly painless. Many patients report that they feel a pressure on the muscle similar to getting a massage.

Dr. Giri Prasetya holds an Advanced Certification in Dry Needling and is experienced in utilising dry needling for the treatment of tight muscles in the back, neck, shoulders, elbows and jaws.