Dry Needling: Unlocking Performance and Recovery

Dry Needling: Unlocking Performance and Recovery

Introduction:

Dry Needling is the use of a thin needle inserted into a muscle (or tendon) to stimulate the muscle, causing it to contract/twitch, and bring blood flow to the area. Dry Needling has been growing in popularity over the last few decades for the treatment in musculoskeletal pain and injuries. Dry Needling benefits include: releasing of muscle tightness, improved mobility, pain relief, reducing inflammation, promoting healing, and speeding up recovery time.

What is dry needling?

Dry Needling is the use of a fine filament (aka thin) needle into the muscle. Often times the needle is used to create a twitch response from a trigger point to release and reset the muscle fibers. This reset allows the entire muscle to work properly again. At SportsFit Physical Therapy electrical stimulation (estim) is used after the needle is inserted to create many contractions of the muscle to help promote blood flow and fatigue the muscle.

Dry Needling is very different than acupuncture, despite the needles being similar. Dry Needling is done by a physical therapist, athletic trainer, chiropractor or MD, using Eastern Medicine to release trigger points and improve muscle tightness and dysfunction. Acupuncture uses Western Medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and targets Qi, or the energy flow, in your body.

Why Athletes use dry needling:

Athletes of all kinds (professional, amateur, and weekend-warriors) are turning to Dry Needling for injury management and recovery. It is common for athletes to sustain overuse injuries, as well as sprains and strains, and research shows that Dry Needling is a very effective tool in rehabbing these injuries. By bringing blood flow to the area and lengthening the muscles, it allows the body to heal itself faster. It also helps aid in pain relief.

Dry Needling is a great recovery tool for muscle soreness as well. Have a big race or competition coming up? Try Dry Needling the next day to recovery faster!

Conditions treated with dry needling

Dry Needling is great for so many conditions, most commonly:

• Muscle strains

• Muscle tightness

• Tendinopathies - patellar, achilles, rotator cuff, quad, hamstring, lateral epicondylitis, medial epicondylitis

• Chronic pain

• Rotator cuff impingement, strains, tears

• Plantar fasciitis

• Tennis elbow

• Golfers elbow

• Back pain

• Neck pain

benefits of dry needling for athletic performance

Most athletes like to push their bodies to the limit. Regular dry needling sessions can help them perform at their best and recovery faster. Dry needling can improve your range of motion, helping you get more flexible and hit positions you had trouble with before (think squat depth for CrossFit and Weightlifting, or a better back handspring for gymnasts). It can also enhance neuromuscular activation and improve movement patterns - think moving more efficiently by recruiting all the right muscles. Dry Needling can also accelerate recovery between training sessions which allows athletes to get back to training feeling better.

What to expect during a dry needling session

When you come in for a dry needling session with me, I will assess the area or areas to be treated, discuss a plan with you, then begin the treatment. I will place between one and four needles to the affected area, sometimes you will feel a twitch from the muscle as the needle is inserted. It will not be painful like getting a shot, more of a deep ache in the muscle being treated. Once the needle is inserted I will use electrical stimulation (estim) to the needle and you will feel the muscle contracting and relaxing. The needle and estim will be in the muscle anywhere from 30 seconds to 15 minutes depending on the injury and the desired outcome.

Dry Needling for injuries is usually performed 1-2 times per week to start and then reduced in frequency as the tissue heals. When getting Dry Needled for recovery, it is best to get it done as soon after the event as possible. I also have patients set up on wellness or maintenance schedule anywhere from once a week to once a month to work on problem areas, stay recovered, and feel their best.

Post-needling you may feel a little sore, like you did a workout. I always describe this as similar to delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) but it is immediate instead of delayed. This soreness can last for a few hours up to a day, depending on the person and the body part treated. It is best to keep the body moving post-needling to reduce soreness and to re-train the muscles to perform optimally. I give all my patients “homework” exercises to do after each session. If needed, you can use heat or Tylenol for the soreness, although this is not usually necessary.

is dry needling safe?

Dry Needling is very safe. Only licensed professionals such as Physical Therapist, Athletic Trainers, Chiropractors, MD’s who are trained and certified in dry needling can perform this procedure on patients. Some contraindications and precautions for dry needling are: being on blood thinners, having a pace maker, having a high risk for infection, pregnancy, and impaired wound healing (diabetic).

Conclusion:

Dry Needling is a safe and effective way for people to rehab from injuries and for athletes to train harder, recovery faster, and stay pain free! If you are interested in seeing how dry needling can help you, click the button below to schedule an appointment today:

The Best 5 Exercises for Overhead Shoulder Mobility

The Best 5 Exercises for Overhead Shoulder Mobility

One of the most common problems my patients ask me about is how they can improve their shoulder mobility. I see this a lot in weightlifters, crossfitters, and gymnasts because of how often they do overhead skills such as snatches, jerks, handstands, back walkovers, and back handsprings. In order to do these skills correctly, and to avoid compensation and injury, one must have enough shoulder flexion, shoulder external rotation, and thoracic extension. Otherwise it’s common to hyperextend through the lower back or wrists to get the bar or body overhead.

Here are the 5 best exercises to improve your overhead shoulder mobility:

1. Foam Roll Thoracic Spine: Place foam roller on your mid back, hands behind your head. Lift hips off the floor and use your legs to roll from mid back to upper back. Keep head back, looking up to the ceiling the whole time. Repeat 10 times or 30 seconds.

2. Foam Roll Lats: Lie on your side, place foam roller under your armpit. Have your bottom arm outstretched, thumb pointing towards the ceiling. Use your legs to roll from just below armpit to just above. Repeat 10 times or 30 seconds each side.

3. Thoracic Extension over Foam Roller: Place foam roller on your mid to upper back. Hold 5-10 lbs in your hands, with arms overhead. Lean back over foam roller, reaching the weight to the ground. Do not let your hips come off the floor. Repeat 10 times.

4. PVC Lat Stretch: Kneel on the ground with elbows on a bench. Hold a PVC pipe in your hands with an underhand grip. Try to keep elbows close together and hands wide, making a “V” shape with your arms. Lean hips back towards your heels, rounding lower back. Stretch should be felt in lats/shoulders. Repeat 10 times, with a 3-5 second hold.

5. Eccentric Lat Strengthening: Lie on your back on a bench, hold a weighted bar or a PVC with 5-10 lbs on it. Keep back flat to the bench with feet up. SLOWLY lower weight down as far as you can go/until you feel a stretch in your lats/shoulders, about 5 seconds. Pause for one second, then return to the starting position at 90 degrees. Repeat 10 times.

Give these a go and let me know how it helps! Still need more help with your shoulder mobility? Reach out and schedule a one on one appointment with me today!

5 Quick Fixes for Ankle Mobility

5 Quick Fixes for Ankle Mobility

When people come to see me complaining about not being able to hit full depth (below parallel) in their squat, they usually tell me they don’t have enough hip mobility, but in many cases, they are not able to get low enough because their ankles are not mobile enough. If you are wondering if this might be the case for you, here is a quick test you can do to check.

Get into a half-kneeling position in front of a wall without your shoes on (Figure 1). Bend your knee, leaning over your toes and touch your knee to the wall without letting your heel come off the floor (figure 2). Slowly move your foot further away from the wall until you can no longer touch your knee to the wall with your heel on the ground. Once you’ve found the furthest point at which you can touch with your foot flat, place your hand between your big toe and the wall (Figure 3). If you have at least enough room for the width of you hand (about 5 inches), then you should have enough dorsiflexion (bend) to squat below parallel. If you can’t get at least a hand-width away from the wall, then these next exercises for ankle mobility are for you!

1. Stretch Those Calves!

Your calf is made up of two big muscles, your gastroc and your soleos. Use these stretches to mobilize each of these muscles:

Gastroc Stretch:

Place one foot behind you, toes pointing straight forward, and back leg straight. Lean forward until a medium stretch is felt in the muscle just below your knee. Hold for 30-40 seconds, then repeat on the other leg.

Soleos Stretch:

Place one foot behind you, toes pointing straight forward, but this time bend back leg (knee bending over your toes). Lean forward until a medium stretch is felt in the muscle by your achilles. Hold for 30-40 seconds, then repeat on the other leg.

2. Foam Roll Your Calves!

Grab a foam roller, place one leg on top, and put your other foot on the floor. Lift your bottom off the floor and roll back and forth over your calf from just behind the knee down to your heel. Try about 30 seconds back and forth in the center of your calf, then turn your foot out roll for 30 seconds on the outside of your shin, then turn foot in and roll on the inside of your leg for 30 seconds.

3. Don’t forget about the muscles that cross the bottom of your feet! 

Using a golf ball or lacrosse ball, apply some pressure down on the ball through the arch of your foot and roll it back and forth between your toes and your heel for 2-3 minutes. This will help loosen up the plantar fascia.

Get into a tall kneeling position with your feet flexed underneath you. Slowly sit back, bringing your butt towards your heels. If your flexor hallucis longus muscle or plantar fascia are tight, you should feel a stretch across the bottom/arch of your foot or in your big toe. Sit there, with a medium level stretch, for 2 minutes.

4. Mobilize the ankle joint! Sometimes it’s not your muscles that are tight, it is joint stiffness.

Grab a thicker band and secure it around the bottom of a pull-up rig (or something else stable). Place the band around your ankle, right where it bends, then step away from the rig creating moderate level tension in the band. Step in front with the opposite leg. Bend your knee, driving it over your big toe, as far as your can without your heel lifting off the ground, then straighten your leg back out. Repeat 20-30 times on each leg. 

Get into a half kneeling position. Grab your hands around your shin and rotate it inwards (internal rotation of tibia), then slowly lean forwards driving your knee over your toes, while keeping your leg in that internal rotation position. Stop before your heel lifts off the ground, then return to starting position. Repeat 20 times on each leg. 

In the same half-kneeling position, take your opposite hand and place it over the top of your front foot, just below your ankle joint. Using that hand, rotate your foot outwards (like you are making a bigger arch in your foot), but not so far that your foot lifts off the ground and rolls out. Then lean forwards, driving your knee over your toes. Stop before your heel lifts off the ground, then return to the starting position. Repeat 20 times on each leg.

5. Reinforce that new range of motion! Now that you’ve stretched and mobilized the muscles and the joints in your foot and ankle, time to get it to stick!

Standing on a box or a plate, rise up on both toes, lift one foot up off the plate, then SLOWLY lower down on just one leg, until your heel hits the floor (or as far as you can go). The lower should be a slow 3 seconds. Place the other foot back down, rise up on 2 feet again, and then repeat on the other leg. Try 20-30 reps on each leg!

And don’t forget to do some squats with your new-found ankle mobility to reinforce that new position!