Dry Needling?
Dry needling is a technique physical therapists use for the treatment of pain and movement impairments. The technique uses a "dry" needle, one without medication or injection, inserted through the skin into areas of the muscle.
Other terms commonly used to describe dry needling, include trigger point dry needling, and intramuscular manual therapy.
Physical therapists use dry needling to release or inactivate trigger points to relieve pain or improve range of motion. Physical therapists may use dry needling as part of an overall treatment plan.
Manual Therapy?
Manual therapy is often defined slightly differently, depending on the medical professional’s scope of practice, whether an osteopathic doctor (DO), a chiropractor, or a physical therapist. In the physical therapy field, manual therapy is utilizing skilled, hands-on techniques, including but not limited to manipulation/mobilization, used by the physical therapist to diagnose and treat soft tissue and joints to reduce pain, increase range of motion, decrease myofascial restrictions to improve muscle length, decrease swelling or inflammation, assist the body in muscle or soft tissue repair, extensibility and/or stability, and facilitate movement to improve function.
That’s a whole lot of words, but manual therapy is really a large umbrella under which many specific hands-on techniques reside. Here’s a list of the manual therapy techniques we could come up with (we still may have missed a few):
Soft Tissue Techniques
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Soft tissue mobilization
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Functional mobilization
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Scar mobilization
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Myofascial release
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Active Release Technique (ART)
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Instrument assisted Soft tissue massage
Joint Techniques
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Joint mobilization
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Joint manipulation/thrust
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Muscle energy techniques
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Mulligan techniques
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Traction
For what type of injuries or problems is manual therapy helpful? Here's a partial list:
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Neck Pain: disc pathology, muscle spasm, rib hypomobility, post-surgical neck pain
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Low Back Pain: disc pathology, facet joint impingement/hypomobility, spinal stenosis, post-surgical back pain
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Thoracic spine/Mid-back Pain
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Headaches: tension headaches, migraines
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TMJ Dysfunction
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Hip Pain: hip impingement, myofascial hip pain in the buttock or lateral hip, hip bursitis, post-surgical hip replacements
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Knee Pain: patellofemoral dysfunction, IT band tendonitis, post-surgical knees including total knee replacements
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Ankle Pain: ankle sprains, chronic ankle pain, ankle arthritis, post-surgical ankle pain
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Shoulder Pain: impingement syndrome, scapular dyskinesia, frozen shoulder/adhesive capsulitis, post-surgical shoulder