Knee Pain and Dry Needling

By Zamir Ahadzada, PT, DPT

Bodies in Motion Physical Therapy IV, LLC

. http://bodiesinmotionpt.com

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Knee Pain and Dry Needling

Outdoor activities including, walking, running, and hiking might be difficult for some due to knee pain.

According to a systemic review, most people who complain of knee pain have difficulty with running, hiking, bending, and squatting. But what could be causing this? According to the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) clinical guidelines knee pain can be divided into four basic categories: overuse, muscle performance deficits, movement coordination deficits, and mobility deficits.

There is research evidence that shows the benefits of dry needling for people with knee pain in combating these four categories. Thus, the focus of this article is to briefly demonstrate how Dry Needling can be used as a tool to help combat movement coordination deficits, muscle performance benefits, mobility deficits, and help decrease pain.

Dry needling is essentially the use of monofilament needles, without injections, to treat muscular and neural system dysfunction. This differs from acupuncture in that goal of Acupuncture is to restore the chi, or flow of energy, in the body using specific points in the body called meridians.

Originally, dry needling originated with the focus of targeting the trigger points in the body. Current research, however, suggests that it also influences other structures, such as the ligaments, muscles, subcutaneous fascia, scar tissue, peripheral nerves, and neurovascular bundle. This is because the trigger point anatomy is firmly anchored in the anatomy of the neural and muscular systems.

Due to the influences on the muscular and neural system, dry needling can be a strong tool for knee pain. It can influence all the categories mentioned above that can cause knee pain due to its effect on the neural and muscular system which includes tendons, ligaments, subcutaneous fascia, scar tissue, and trigger points for pain relief.

This is used in conjunction with electrical stimulation to “retrain” the muscles so that the muscle unit can perform optimally when running or with squatting. Needling can also decrease trigger point cycle, and thus help decrease pain in the fascia and tendons underlying the kneecap itself.  Thus, dry needling can be a beneficial tool to help people get back to running, walking, and squatting for the spring season.