Dry needling (also known as Myofascial Trigger Point Therapy) is the western form of acupuncture where a sterile filament needle is inserted into a trigger point often called a muscular knot. Our podiatrist uses a variety of techniques to find your trigger points and areas of discomfort, especially parts that are agitated, inflamed or feel like little lumps of muscles.

At Mint Foot Care, we’ll insert a very fine, sterile single-use solid filament needle to cause a small, precise injury or “lesion” in the tissue when it enters the body. The tiny needle produces injury signals the brain uses to stimulate a sequence of events to replace or repair the damaged tissue with new, healthy tissue.

Needling in a painful ‘trigger point’ or muscular knot often provokes a “twitch” response from the muscle that may feel painful or feel like a cramp for a few seconds. Once the “twitch” response has been elicited, the muscle fibres in the treated area will relax, and any inflammation and pain will reduce. Dry needling can also be used to help improve the range of motion in your affected joints and increase blood circulation.

Suitable for Different Injuries

At Mint Foot Care in Wynnum, we use dry needle therapy in conjunction with our orthotic therapy or as part of an overall treatment plan. It is particularly helpful for the treatment of:

• Achilles Tendinitis
• Ankle, Arch, Heel and Knee Pain
• Buttock and leg pain (including sciatic pain)
• Calf tightness or cramps
• Hamstring strains
• Joint flexibility and range of motion issues
• Muscle imbalances and tightness.
• Muscle strains
• Pain Relief
• Plantar fasciitis
• Shin splints
• Sprains

Benefits of Dry Needling

Dry needling is a safe and effective way for providing comfort and relief to tired, injured or overworked muscles. It is commonly used to:

• Improve range of motion in joints
• Increase blood circulation
• Reduce muscle tightness.
• Relax tight muscles
• Relieve of muscle pain and soreness
• Stimulate healing

Dry Needling vs. Acupuncture

Although dry needling and acupuncture both use fine needles for their treatments, they differ in their underlying philosophies. Their main difference lies in where the needles are placed and the reasons behind them.

Dry needling is based on Western medicine and grounded on the physiological and neurophysiological aspects of the body. It targets muscular knots to stimulate healing, improve recovery and relax overused muscles. Acupuncture, on the other hand, is based on Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and primarily focuses on correcting imbalances in your body’s energy flows through the strategic placement of fine needles.

Despite these differences, dry needling and acupuncture are both commonly used for pain relief, injury management and the treatment of chronic conditions.

At Mint Foot Care, we provide professional dry needling procedures that can help treat a variety of foot and lower limb issues, provide muscle relief and stimulate healing for injuries.