Keith came in on his birthday.
Not for a relaxing treatment or a break from party prep, but because he was in serious pain.
He told me he was looking for dry needling. It had helped him before, so he wanted to do it again. His muscles were tight and reactive, with intense pain and limited range of motion in his left shoulder. He asked if I could dry needle to help him. I hesitated for a moment, not because I couldn’t, but because I knew I could help him more completely. Trigger point acupuncture is, technically speaking, dry needling. So I said yes.
I treated his trigger points, the same areas someone would target with dry needling. But I didn’t stop there.
I added electro-acupuncture to help reset how the muscles were firing and support the body’s natural pain-relieving endorphins and tissue repair processes. I used cupping to decompress the tissue and improve circulation, and added acupuncture points to calm his nervous system, reduce stress, and improve overall blood and qi flow.
Because muscles don’t tighten randomly. They tighten when the body is overwhelmed, stressed, inflamed, or stuck in fight-or-flight.
As Keith was leaving, he raised his left arm. Many patients do this instinctively to test their range of motion. I told him to give it a few hours and let his body fully respond to the treatment.
Later that day, our office received a text from Keith.
He said he was able to fully enjoy his 40th birthday bash, that his pain was 100 percent gone, and that it was “the best day ever.”
That part never gets old.
This is what most people don’t realize when they search for dry needling. Dry needling can release a muscle. Acupuncture can release the muscle and address why it tightened in the first place and why it kept coming back.
Keith didn’t come in to try acupuncture. He came in for dry needling because he wanted to be pain free on his birthday. What he received was something more complete, and more effective, than he expected. (If you’d like a clearer explanation of how dry needling compares to acupuncture and why the difference matters, you can read more on our Dry Needling vs Acupuncture page.)
Mission accomplished. 🎂
If you’re considering dry needling because your pain keeps coming back, a consultation can help determine what will actually give you lasting relief.