Dry Needling (IDN) vs Acupuncture

Acupuncture is an ancient Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) technique that has been used for thousands of years. Based on the philosophy of qi (pronounced chee, meaning "life force"), it tries to balance the energy flow in your body with the energy flow of your surrounding environment. Eastern medicine such as TCM believes a person's health and wellness depends on how smoothy the energy (or qi), is moving through channels beneath the skin. Acupuncturists stick thin needles in specific points on the body, and determine which points are best to infiltrate based on "blocked pathways" or blocked channels.

Western medicine has derived Dry Needling from TCM acupuncture techniques, however the philosophy is based more on the science of anatomy and biomechanics, rather than the belief in qi. In western medicine, knowledge of myofascial meridians help practitioners understand how some parts of the body have an affect on other parts of the body in terms of movement and function. It is interesting to note that the channels mapped out by acupuncturists have very similar locations to myofascial meridians. An example of how meridians work is as follows: the superficial back line connects the entire backside of your body and helps support your body to maintain full upright extension (such as standing straight up). If you have tightness in your plantar fascia, it could cause tightness in your hamstrings and low back, or vice versa.

As a result, health care professionals who perform IDN are no trying to release qi, rather, we are trying to release muscle tightness identified as trigger points to assist with normal functioning of meridians and therefore, aiding the body to decrease pain and return to proper movement.

Physical Therapists perform IDN to assist with tissue healing, similarly to how acupuncturist perform acupuncture to help eliminate stress and disease in the body. While acupuncturists use thin monofilament needles to stick in your body at skin level, Physical Therapists and other practitioners of IDN use the exact same needles as acupuncturists to infiltrate trigger points in muscles. With that being said, IDN needles are inserted deeper in the body than acupuncture, and might have more of a painful stimuli during the treatment compared to when getting acupuncture. The difference in philosophy and technique of IDN versus acupuncture can be the difference in what method will be more helpful in decreasing pain, facilitating healing and aiding in normal movement or function for a person with physical disabilities and/or pain.