Now offering advanced Trigger Point Therapy with Dry Needling

Intramuscular Manual Therapy

Known as Trigger Point Dry Needling & Intramuscular Stimulation

This is a unique treatment that Hamilton Physical Therapy offers patient with a variety of conditions. Just some of the benefits of IMT include decreasing pain on an acute and chronic level, promoting healing, increasing ROM, and increasing function. Read on to learn more about what this treatment is and how it works.

WHAT IS IT?

The easiest way to think of this treatment is to relate it to a massage. The knots in your muscles that massage therapy often targets are similar areas of treatment for IMT (also known as Trigger Point Dry Needling-TDN). Often times these knots live at a deep level that fingers and hands just can't get to. Those knots are the goal of IMT. The needles used are very fine, thin, and flexible and are quickly tapped into the muscle and causes those knots to decrease, the muscle to loosen, and healing to begin which ultimately decreases pain and increases proper function.

Those knots in your muscles are known as Trigger Points. Trigger points are typically associated with muscle tightness and pain. It is very typical for the trigger point's main referral region to be some distance away from the actual trouble spot in the muscle. Headaches are a great example of this. Treating the musculature in the neck and shoulders can quickly decrease the intensity and frequency of headaches.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

With physical therapy, Intramuscular Manual Therapy (IMT) is a treatment for muscular tightness and spasms which commonly follows injuries and often accompanies the degenerative processes of a chronically painful condition and dysfunction. Muscular tightness and spasms cause compression and irritation of the nerves exiting the spine. When the nerves are irritated, they cause a protective spasm of all the muscles to which they are connected. This may cause peripheral diagnoses such as carpel tunnel, tendonitis, osteoarthritis, decreased mobility and chronic pain. Small, fine needles are inserted in the muscles at the trigger points causing the pain referral. The muscles would then contract and release, improving flexibility of the muscle and decreasing symptoms.

IMT/IMS treats these trigger points to release them and allows the muscle to heal. More and more physical therapists are incorporating trigger point dry needling into their practices. Incorporating the treatment technique with other manual and rehabilitative methods has been shown to be very effective in improving and hastening outcomes.

WHERE DOES IT COME FROM?

There are several different types of needling therapies with different backgrounds and different theories behind them.

Intramuscular stimulation is a specific training, developed by C. Chan Gunn in Vancouver, BC, Canada. It is a treatment which uses thin needles to treat tight and restricted muscles which may be causing ongoing physical limitations.

Trigger point dry needling (TDN) is a similar treatment as IMS but utilizes a slightly different evaluation and treatment approach. Janet Travell, MD and David Simons, MD were instrumental in developing the evaluation and treatment of trigger points throughout the body.

Needling therapies are very common practice for physiotherapists in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and is slowly making it's was through the United States. Approximately, 14 states have officially accepted TDN as a practice for physical therapists and the number is continuing to grow as more and more people hear of this revolutionary treatment.

WILL TDN HELP ME?

Does massage give you great relief, but doesn't last as long as you would like? People who have good results with massage but are disappointed when the discomfort returns will find TDN a great way to get more long-lasting relief. TDN works best for people with overuse injuries, chronic pain, and sports injuries. We are able to treat nearly any muscle in the body and can treat the muscle at depths impossible with other types of bodywork. TDN is a great way to get more out of your massage therapy by allowing us to get rid of the deep knots and restrictions that have, up until now, been unreachable. TDN is not appropriate for people with brand new injuries that are swollen and acutely painful. It is also not always appropriate for people who have excessively loose joints, but an evaluation will help us make that decision.

DOES THE NEEDLE HURT?

Because acupuncture needles are very fine and solid, they don't hurt as they pass through the skin like a hollow injection needle does. The sensations people report are "deep aching", "pressure", "releasing", "blood flow", or "soreness". The needle is left in for a very short period of time, just long enough to relax the muscle. The procedure is repeated in different areas until the muscle returns to its normal, relaxed state. Because we treat sensitive areas, there is some discomfort. However, short-term discomfort is well worth tolerating considering the long-term relief TND provides. Try it and see for yourself.

HOW MANY NEEDLES WILL I NEED?

We will start very slowly during the first session to give you a feel for the technique. The first session will focus on a few muscles that are key to your problem. These key areas can give you excellent relief with less soreness. Subsequent treatments will target more specific areas to fine-tune the effect. Sessions are usually spaced 5-7 days apart and you should expect to feel a marked difference after only 1-2 sessions.

HOW WILL I FEEL AFTER THE TREATMENT?

You will know positive change has occurred right after the session, because you will be sore in the way that you would feel after too much activity. The muscle will feel fatigued and the soreness can last from a few hours to 1-2 days but should not interfere with your everyday activities. We encourage you to be active during this time to keep the soreness to a minimum. After a day or so, you'll experience a new feeling of less pain and tightness that will last. The chronic injury you thought was there to stay will actually start to improve. For more information on TDN specifically please visit the website of our affiliated educational company which is training physical therapists in the technique.

www.kinetacore.com

Examples of trigger points and their referral patterns:

Images from the Textbook “Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction, The Trigger Point Manual” by Travell and Simons