This technique was developed in the 1970s. Dr Chan Gunn developed Dry Needling to treat neuropathic pain. He introduced the term “neuropathic pain” to describe pain that occurs when nerve malfunction following minor irritation.
Nerves and nerve endings become extremely sensitive and cause signals to become perceived as painful ones; even a subtle touch becomes painful or “supersensitive”.
According to Dr Gunn, the goal of the treatment of Dry Needling is to stimulate the nerves to relax the tight/shortened muscles which press on the irritated nerve. The supersensitive areas can be desensitised and the persistent pull of shortened muscle releases taking the load off tendons and joints.
Treatments are usually once a week (but can be spread out to 2 weeks) to allow time between treatments for the body to heal itself. The number of treatments you require will depend on several factors ie the duration and extent of your condition, how much scar tissue there is and how quickly your body can heal.