Dry needling
Dry needling is the use of a solid needle for therapy. This contrasts with the use of a hollow hypodermic needle to inject substances such as saline solution to the same point. Such use of a solid needle has been found to be as effective as injection of substances in such cases as relief of pain in muscles and connective tissue. Analgesia produced by needling a pain spot has been called the needle effect.[1]
A survey of acupuncture and dry needling for the treatment of chronic lower back pain concluded that they may be useful adjuncts to standard therapies. The quality of these studies indicated that higher quality of methodology is required before they can be recommended as a treatment modality.[2]
Comparison with acupuncture
 | This article possibly contains original research. (July 2008) |
Acupuncture has been defined as "...the insertion of a solid needle into any part of the human body for disease prevention, therapy or maintenance of health."[3] Dry needling is a type of acupuncture. The term "dry needling" is typically used by chiropractors and physical therapists to skirt laws that prevent them from using the term "acupuncture". Acupuncturists, and Doctors of Traditional Chinese Medicine practice "dry needling" all the time, but they call it ashi needling. Dry needling is just one of the hundreds of acupuncture techniques practiced by acupuncturists.
- ^ K. Lewit (February 1979), "The needle effect in the relief of myofascial pain", Pain (1): 83–90
{{citation}}: Unknown parameter|Volume=ignored (|volume=suggested) (help) - ^ Furlan AD, van Tulder MW, Cherkin DC; et al. (2005), "Acupuncture and dry-needling for low back pain", Cochrane database of systematic reviews (Online) (1): CD001351, doi:10.1002/14651858.CD001351.pub2, PMID 15674876
{{citation}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help); Explicit use of et al. in:|author=(help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ The Statutory Regulation of the Acupuncture Profession (PDF), Acupuncture Regulatory Working Group, September 2003