I’d been an osteopath for seven years when I started hearing more and more about trigger point needling, or dry needling as a really effective way to treat patients. I was treating people with chronic pain and sometimes I just knew that the possibility of helping my clients was quite limited. When I found a whole bunch of dry needling courses that I could fit into my schedule, I thought it was a great way to improve my existing practise. It was the best thing I’ve done for my career yet.
One of the best experiences as a practitioner of dry needling was through a colleague whose daughter had severe back pain. He was a physio in the practise we worked from; I treated his knee injury with expected success. He was so impressed that he also undertook the same study to become a dry needling practitioner in NZ, and when he treated his daughter with success, she decided to turn her studies to dry needling as well.
Strangely, one of the biggest barriers for me in studying dry needling was my aversion to needles, which, yes, I had been ashamed of as a professional, but something I am very pleased to say I have definitely overcome. When I apply dry needling to a client in significant pain, I can see the muscles responding, I can sense how much a patient will get this is the best outcome possible. I no longer consider needles something to be afraid of, but rather celebrated.
I am 100% confident that treating patients with dry needling therapy will only become more and more popular in the years to come. Seeing the immediate relief on a client sticks with you- the wearing nature of pain is a heavy cross to bear, and if I can remove that burden as a professional, then I’m happy.