In the past few years, dry needling has become one of the most widely used techniques in the world, for the treatment of pain relief. But, looking at some of its techniques, many people end up confusing it with Acupuncture. In this article, we will learn about the similarities and the difference between acupuncture and Dry Needling.
Acupuncture:-
The similarity between acupuncture and Dry Needling is that both of them use needles for the purpose of treatment. Now, what exactly is acupuncture? Acupuncture is based on traditional Chinese medicines. In the human body, there are meridians throughout the human body that have acupoints on them.
Now, the needles that we have mentioned go into these acupoints and they try to move chi or energy up and down those meridians and the treatment system of the body. A needle then goes into the acupoints of the body and can actually change the overall composition of the body.
Actually, the human body is a timeless machine. When it senses any kind of damage or toxicity it communicates with the mind. The mind picks up the message that the body needs some help. Acupuncture points are one of the many ways that humans can use to address the needs of their bodies.
In simplified language, this means that it helps the body to release its own naturally occurring pain killers. It calms down your flight and fight response and that feeling that tightens up everything in your body. It loosens up for you. Of course, it helps in circulation and in healing. So, in nutshell in the case of acupuncture, many levels of care are being delivered by the tiny little needles. In fact, if you have the right kind of knowledge, you can perform the acupuncture techniques all by yourself, on your own body.
For example, there are major acupuncture points in our hands that are good for headaches, pain all over the body, and toothaches. Apart from this, there are specific points on the sides of the hand that are suitable for back pain and knee pain. Acupuncture techniques are so amazing, that just by pushing the right points you can actually pull out teeth. Needles used in acupuncture are used just once and are completely disposable.
Dry Needling:-
When it comes to Dry Needling, there is a lot of research behind it and it has been extremely beneficial and yields great results. In the case of Dry Needling, the philosophy behind it is more concentrated on Western modern scientific studies of the musculoskeletal system and the nervous system. So, in dry needling, we are inserting needles in these muscles, bellies, and tendons, around the nerve, where the tendons join. It is established that there are various chemicals throughout our body, where there are trigger points.
Now, if these trigger points are undergoing some pain then with the insertion of the needles, we actually reduce that pain-causing chemical and introduce healing to that area. It is also known to increase the blood flow to that area and stimulate the nerve. It is also known to control pain and provides relief from the pain. Providing pain relief also depends on the stimulation of these needles. Dry needling treatment also provides an improved range of motion and obviously a lot of good results.
Conclusion:-
Dry needling and acupuncture just share one major similarity between them, which is the use of needles. The major difference between them is their source of origin i.e one if they are ancient Chinese methodology and the other one is a modern technique. Another thing which is a point of difference is the way of treatment being used by them.
