Have you ever had a day so stressful that it takes hours for your shoulders to separate themselves from your earlobes? After a few day’s like this you might feel like there is a pain in your neck that just won’t go away. You begin to realize that you’re no longer able to just turn your head,you have to turn your entire torso just to look over your shoulder. Poor posture,lifestyle,stress and trauma are all possible triggers for neck pain and decreased mobility. Persistent pain can be exhausting,and frustrating if don’t get on top of it quickly.

Who can benefit from dry needling?

Dry needling is an excellent option for treatment of chronic neck pain,or injury. It is especially effective because of it’s ability to get deep into the smaller muscle fibers of the neck. Those small muscle fibers are designed for the finer tuned movement’s like rotation. The larger muscles of the neck are for support,and are responsible for holding the head in an upright position. When the restrictions in the muscles are released with dry needling,it is like hitting a reset button for your muscles,and they will respond far better to exercise because they are starting from a more relaxed state.

How does it work?

The aim of dry needling is to achieve a local “twitch” response to release muscle tension and pain. The needle used is very thin and most people don’t even feel it penetrate the skin. A healthy muscle will feel very little discomfort,however if the muscle is sensitive and shortened or has active trigger points (a hyper-irritable point in skeletal muscle,or a “knot”) within it,you may feel a sensation like a muscle cramp-the “twitch” response.