Trigger points
Dry Needling
Thin sterile needles into muscle trigger points for neck, back, shoulder, hip and knee pain, muscle tightness, sports injuries, headaches and migraines, sciatica, tendonitis and joint dysfunction.
Chapter 01
What a trigger point is, and why it will not release
A trigger point is a small band of muscle that has contracted and stopped letting go. It is not soreness spread across the whole muscle, it is a specific spot, and pressing it often reproduces the pain you actually came in for, sometimes somewhere else entirely.
Stretching frequently fails on these because the rest of the muscle lengthens and the knot does not. A thin sterile needle placed into the point reaches what stretching and rubbing cannot.
The open treatment floor at Aascend Chiropractic, with treatment tables and electrotherapy carts
Needling for headaches, sciatica and a tight hip
The referral patterns are what make needling useful. Trigger points in the neck and upper back are a well known driver of recurring headaches and migraines, and deep hip muscle can produce pain down the leg that behaves like sciatica.
It is used here for neck, back, shoulder, hip and knee pain, general muscle tightness, sports injuries, headaches and migraines, sciatica, tendonitis and joint dysfunction.
Chapter 03
The day after, and what is normal
Muscle that has just released is often mildly sore the following day, in the way it is after a hard session rather than after an injury. That settles.
Tell us if you are needle shy. It is a common thing to be, the needles are much finer than the ones people picture, and it is far better to say so up front than to spend the appointment braced against the table.
Used most on the muscle that keeps undoing an adjustment.