Dry needling: A critical commentary of its effectiveness and safety profile

Abstract

Dry needling is an invasive procedure using solid filament needles to treat myofascial pain and dysfunction. It is becoming a widely used adjunct to traditional physiotherapy treatment. Despite its rate of growth there still remains questions marks over the effectiveness of dry needling and its potential to cause adverse events. Recent reviews largely agree that there is an improvement in the patient’s pain and range of motion in the short term when compared to no treatment, but evidence remains inconclusive for long term effects. Dry needling is an invasive therapy and clinicians need to have an appropriate indication for providing dry needling therapy while also determining whether the therapy will place the patient under any unacceptable risk of adverse events. One paper found the rate of mild adverse events to be as high as19.18%. The most common adverse events experienced were bleeding, bruising and pain during or following treatment. To minimise the risk of adverse events treating clinicians should receive appropriate training and certification to provide dry needling therapies. This commentary aims to present the most current evidence surrounding dry needling effectiveness, safety profile and the need for appropriate levels of professional competence.

The effectiveness of dry needling on hamstring flexibility: A systematic review

“…Another possibility for the effectiveness of dry needling for muscle flexibility is the release of myofascial trigger points, which are tight bands of muscle tissue which can cause pain. 13 Needling these trigger points can elicit a local twitch response which is thought to reset and lengthen the shortened muscle; however, the effectiveness of stimulating a local twitch response has yielded inconsistent findings [13]. Limitations: There are several limitations to this study.…”

“…Dry needling technique also varied, with some studies choosing three consistent locations [10,11] and another choosing needling locations based on the identification of trigger points [9]. There are also a variety of ways the needle can be inserted, and these differences in needling technique have been a major limitation in creating a solid conclusion about the effectiveness of dry needling [13]. All of the variation makes it difficult to draw conclusions on the best method for future research and applications.…”