Dry Needling for Old Muscle Injuries
Dry Needling for Old Muscle Injuries
Introduction
Dry needling therapy is a favorite at Revive Physiotherapy when it comes to eliminating pain and helping the body heal.
Though often mistaken as acupuncture, dry needling is a well-established physiotherapy treatment that involves inserting tiny monofilament needles through the skin and connecting with a variety of structures including: muscle, tendon, ligament, bone, joint capsules, nerve sheaths, and fascia. We use it to treat muscle injuries, tendinopathies, nerve compression, sciatica, disc herniations, radiculopathy, chronic pain, muscle spasms, ligament injuries, headaches, and sensory impairments.
In this blog, I'll discuss the many benefits and the science behind dry needling for muscle injuries.
What Happens When a Muscle Doesn't Heal Properly?
Muscle strains and tears have the ability to self heal. When the muscle does not heal itself properly, a variety of physical changes occur:
1. Scar Tissue Replaces Normal Muscle Fibers
Healthy muscle fibers are long, parallel, elastic, and contractile. When healing is disrupted, the body lays down fibrotic scar tissue instead. This scar tissue is stiffer, less elastic, and not able to contract and relax like muscle fibers. This creates patches of non-functional tissue inside the muscle belly.
2. Disorganized, “Tangled” Fiber Arrangement
Instead of neat, parallel muscle fibers, you get a mix of shortened, improperly aligned muscle fibers, dense collagen bundles, and adhesions between layers of muscle or fascia. This disorganization prevents the muscle from lengthening or contracting smoothly leading to feeling of stiffness and sharp pulling.
4. Altered Neuromuscular Control
With chronic or improperly healed tears the nervous system becomes protective, and the brain reduces activation to the injured region. As a result surrounding muscles compensate. This can lead to inhibition and weakness of the injured muscle and over-recruitment of surrounding muscles.
5. Long-Term Structural Weakness
Poor initial healing results in reduced tensile strength and higher susceptibility to future tears. The muscle essentially operates below its previous capacity with increased risk of re-injury.
Symptoms people often feel when the muscle did not heal properly:
Persistent tightness or stiffness
Weakness with loading
Recurring strains in the same spot
Trigger points
Pain during stretching or contraction
A “ropey” or lumpy feel in the muscle belly
How Does Dry Needling Help Old Muscle Injuries?
This explanation can be very lengthy and in depth, so I'll try to keep it short. Dry needling provides a controlled, micro-level “reset” of previously injured tissue.
Performing dry needling to the muscle:
Reduces the abnormal electrical activity of the nervous system driving muscle spasms and trigger-point activation.
Induces microtrauma at the site of insertion and triggers a localized healing response.
Triggers the nervous system and resets the connection between the nerve and the muscle for better activation.
Disrupts scar tissue and adhesions allowing the muscles and fascia to move more freely.
Increased blood flow to the area for improved nutrient delivery and healing.
Post Dry Needling Treatment:
After needling an old muscle injury, we always perform some type of loading exercise. This is what helps the muscle heal correctly.
Think of dry needling as just prepping the muscle for the real treatment. We are disrupting the old environment and creating a new one so the muscle has a second chance to heal, this time with better guidance.
We usually start with some form of isometric exercise and transition to progressive resistance exercise. This restores normal muscle tissue structure AND load capacity, so the muscle is stronger and able to tolerate the demands of life! Without the guided progressive resistance training, your body is likely to improperly heal itself again despite the needling intervention.
If an old muscle injury is keeping you from performing at your best, click here to schedule an evaluation today!
