Dry Needling & Myofascial Trigger Point Release

Dry needling uses a fine filament needle to target myofascial trigger points: the tight, irritable bands within a muscle that refer pain elsewhere and limit how well the muscle contracts. It is not acupuncture. The reasoning is anatomical rather than meridian-based, and the target is a specific palpable band identified during your examination.

The technique is useful because it reaches tissue depth that hands cannot. A deep soleus, a gluteus medius under a thick layer, the infraspinatus sitting beneath the scapular muscles: these respond to needling in a way surface pressure rarely matches. Patients typically feel a brief local twitch, then a noticeable drop in tightness over the following day.

Dry needling is never the whole treatment. A trigger point is usually a symptom of a muscle that is being asked to do a job it is not strong enough for, so the needling buys a window of improved movement, and the exercise programme that follows is what stops the trigger point returning. Used on its own it produces short-lived relief, which is why it is always paired with loading here.

Common presentations treated with needling include neck and shoulder tension, gluteal and hip pain, calf and Achilles problems, and the deep forearm tightness that accompanies racquet-sport elbow pain.