Dry needling for neck pain is a common intervention I use when working with my patients with neck pain. Many people are suffering from more neck pain these days due to working from home and less overall movement activities due to lockdowns effecting are everyday life. Dry needling can be a great option for pain relief whether you have had neck pain for years or have just suffered an acute flare up and can barely move your head.
Often patients report significant neck pain relief from dry needling with 2- 3 sessions. When combined with a proper home exercise program and manual therapy, dry needling can help with long lasting relief and can be a great part of a total treatment plan to maintain good neck health.
Dry needling itself is a skilled intervention used by physiotherapists that are certified in dry needling. When dry needling for neck pain a physiotherapist will assess trigger points in the muscles which could be causing pain and movement restriction. After these trigger points are identified the physio uses a thin filiform needle to stimulate the trigger point by causing a twitch response in the muscle. This will cause the muscle to release/relax causing decreased pain and increased movement.
Dry Needling for Acute Neck Pain
Several times a year I will get phone calls from people who can barely turn their head because they either slept on their neck wrong or did something which is causing there neck to have severe muscle spasm. A dry needling session with some manual therapy can help to bring such an episode under control quickly. The quicker you can get these episodes under control the better so that the neck pain is less likely to become chronic.
Dry Needling For Chronic Neck Pain
Chronic neck pain is very common effecting many people who have desk jobs or have had car accidents or sporting accidents in the past. With this type of pain you often get shortening of muscles, persistent active trigger points, and central nervous system changes. Many patients if they do too much exercise too quickly there pain can become more severe. This type of neck pain can severely impact daily function and quality of life. Dry needling sessions for chronic neck pain can help to restore normal muscle length, relieve active trigger points allowing range of motion, muscle balance and strength to be restored. This allows for exercise to be introduced that were once painful.
Is Dry Needling for neck pain for you?
Most people can tolerate dry needling well however there are some people where dry needling is not appropriate. They are if you have any of the following conditions or characteristics:
Pregnancy
Blood Thinners
Clotting disorders
History of bacterial endocarditis or heart valve replacement
Severe Fear of needles
There are other factors your physiotherapist may have to consider before administering Dry needling. Neck pain is one of the most common injuries I see in my physiotherapy practice. I usually use a combination of education, manual therapy, dry needling and exercise to treat most cases. Unless you are terrified of needles or have some of the conditions outlined above dry needling may be a great option for your neck pain. If you are in Toronto and would like to inquire about whether dry needling is appropriate for you book a free phone consultation with Shawn Williams a Certified Integrated Dry Needling Physiotherapist to see if dry needling would be a good addition to your neck recovery plan.
