Dry Needling (Tuesdays on the Run Edition)

I have had on and off issues with my left IT Band and knee which started during my first half marathon years ago.  I have done everything from cortisone shots to PT to resting.  Last fall my ortho mentioned to me about dry needling.  I have never heard of such a thing and thought I would do some research on it.

What is dry needling?  How I describe it to others is that its like a combination between a massage and acupuncture.  Basically the therapist will stick a needle and get deep into the muscle to loosen up the knot.  Instead of doing that by massage which can cause damage, like bruising, to happen to the skin area.  It gets deep to the knot itself to loosen it up.

Dry Needling

Last fall I found a place that not only did Dry Needling, but also offered massages.  I checked this place out and decided to give them a try.  My first appointment I described the issues I've been dealing with and did an assessment of my flexibility and what hurt.  He then did some needling on my left glute.  At first I was confused as my pain was in my IT Band, but the more I went the more I understood that where your pain is, really may not be the cause of it.  I have to say that first needling HURT, like really H-U-R-T.  He then had me go to the back area and walk on the treadmill to work out the area and then ice.  All night and all the next day my glute hurt.  Hurt like a sore muscle. But the next day it felt better.

On the next visit, he worked more of my glute and had me walk on the treadmill and then added a few stretches and exercises before I iced.  I now have a page full of exercises and stretches that I do after the needling.  As time has gone by, he has worked on many other places on my body to try and help my cronic IT band issue, including the opposite lat.  As I have learned, with my very tight lat, it pulls the opposite leg out of alignment, causing issues with those muscles.  Who knew that everything was connected in our body. :)

A lot of people ask me what it feels like and if it is a lot of pain.  It does hurt, but not really bad. The closest thing I can relate it to is a very deep tissue massage.  It hurts, but it's a good hurt cause you know you will feel a lot better in the long run.

Different places give me different feelings and sensations.  When he finds a big knot in my glute it feels like he is trying to pop a big nasty bubble.  When he needles my shin, I swear I can feel each needle stick directly in my ankle.  And there was one time when he was needling my hip and I felt an electric charge go down my leg.

They also do pressure point therapy, but I personally prefer the needling.  The main reason is that I bruise easily and every time it's done, I leave looking like they took a bat to me.  But there are times they have to do the pressure point as there might be a nerve cluster in that place and you can't needle near that.  I also feel like the needling gets to the issue and works things out quicker.

I thought that after I did Dopey in January I'd be done with it.  I would be over the hump and not in high mode of training that I could stretch and exercise on my own.  Then shortly after I was walking down my stairs and pulled my calf.  It was completely out of the blue and I could barely walk on it.  A few weeks later he had most of it under control and figured out that a muscle in my shin caused the misalignment and the pain in my calf.

When I did the Star Wars Dark Side Half in April and an old pain in my right hip came back.  Making it worse was sitting on an airplane not being able to move and stretch much.  I had this issue during training for my first marathon a couple years ago and never figured out the root cause.  Within one session he knew it was my glute that was causing the issue as there was a huge knot it it.  The next day my hip felt great.  I swear this man is a genius figuring out what the real issue is.

By then I was about to start marathon training for MCM this summer so I decided to stick with the PT through my training.  It's probably the best decision I've made in awhile.  Overall my IT band pain and tightness has basically gone away (knock on wood).  My knee pain came up last month and some needling in the front of my hip ceased that right away.  Again, another nagging issue that would have had me off from running for at least couple of weeks and I was back running the next day.  He took care of my pulled hamstring a couple weeks ago.  It has been nice to know that anything that might come up during training won't linger long and I won't miss a lot of training runs. And I am hoping that he will be able to take care of my pulled back when I see him this week.

While I hope to scaling back on appointments after MCM, I do plan on still seeing him.  How often will be discussed at some point between the two of us.  Overall I have found that it has been the best physical therapy I have done.  While I wish they had more of a sports medicine aspect, I know that any issue I have will be resolved.

Have you ever done dry needling?  Have you ever had a different PT experience?

I’m linking up with with MCM Mama Runs, Marcia’s Healthy Slice, and My No Guilt Life for the Tuesdays on the Run linkup.