Every now and then I get asked if dry needling is the same thing as acupuncture. And the answer is no!
They are very different. I think the most important thing to know is that dry needling is a treatment to ease muscular pain and tightness. Practitioners needle local pain points on the muscle which will release tension in that area, this is something an acupuncturist can do as well. Acupuncturists also use points on meridians as well as muscles to influence energy flow and relieve pain.
Acupuncture is a holistic based treatment and can be used for a variety of medical conditions rather than only muscular pain and stiffness. Acupuncture is based on Traditional Chinese Medicine which has been used for thousands of years while dry needling is based on basic anatomy and its origin dates back to the 1950's.
Another point of difference is that acupuncture is a 4 or 5 year Bachelor's degree with at least 1000 hours of supervised clinical hours, while dry needling is taught over a 48-72 hour course.
So yes, there are some similarities, but acupuncture and dry needling are absolutely different 😊
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