Not really, but let's give it a try. When injury becomes chronic, several things happen.

First, you have deprivation of oxygen due to compression of local vasculature. This makes the body store the neurotransmitter, Acetylcholine (ACh) in the neuromuscular junction, when this chemical builds up, you get a trigger point (this is a gross oversimplification, but bear with me). Through the insertion of very small needles, we are able to release trigger points by stimulating a chemical response in the body.

Second, with chronic injury (over 10 days) the body increases the number of local pain receptors to 'protect' the area. The body also over time protectively draws more attention to the painful area by increasing the representation of this area in the brain. With dry needling, through a domino effect of many hormonal reactions, we are able to decrease the number of pain receptors locally in the pathological tissue, and change the abnormal representation of the area in the brain. This allows the body to decrease the hypersensitivity of the tissue, and return to the normal perception of everyday stimuli.  

I know we said simple, but believe it or not, this is a simple explanation. See 'Cool Science Stuff' below for the real deal.

Almost everyone. Because dry needling works both on the local tissue and the nervous system it is beneficial for many physical therapy diagnoses. It can improve the rate of recovery for almost every diagnosis. 

No. Acupuncture focuses on the movement of Qi, the energy flow of the body. Dry needling is based on Western medicine focusing on anatomical structures and neurological/physiological responses. While there is some overlap between acupoints and trigger points, we conduct a full physical evaluation of the body and use dry needling as another method to make positive changes in combination with manual therapy and exercise. 

Not really, the needles used are very small. The team at Symmetry has been trained on techniques to mitigate any discomfort. Some patients experience a little local soreness post treatment, but the benefits and pain relief FAR outweigh the temporary discomfort. 

Absolutely! Dry needling is one of the most effective ways to reduce scar tissue. We combine Dry needling with the use of the Winback machine for really incredible results.

Extremely! Each needling is individually wrapped and sterile. The needles used at Symmetry are one-time use only and surgical grade metal. The size of the needle is only 1/10 of a 'typical injection' needle.