Did you know roughly 619 million people currently have lower back pain? In fact, it’s the leading cause of disability globally, making it a significant public health crisis. It’s uncomfortable and makes moving around difficult, diminishing your quality of life for the long term.
Fortunately, you don’t have to endure it for much longer. Dry needling therapy for lower back pain treatment is proven effective and allows for a faster recovery. What’s more, it’s a noninvasive treatment.
Let’s further explore the benefits of dry needling for lower back pain to help you determine if this procedure is right for you.
A common reason people undergo dry needling treatments is to relieve muscle tension. It often stems from “trigger points”—tight spots in your muscles and tissues that form with injury, causing pain and discomfort. Dry needling works by inserting thin needles directly into these points in your back to release tightness, allowing your muscles to loosen up and relax.
Knowing the nature of muscle tension is crucial to understanding how dry needling can reduce inflammation. Tight muscles get poor blood flow, triggering inflammation. Dry needling then directly attacks these spots to alleviate tension and improve circulation. As inflammation decreases, your body heals more efficiently, reducing pain and swelling.
A steady flow of oxygen and nutrients is crucial to recovery and bodily functions. However, tense muscles undermine this process by constricting blood vessels, limiting the nutrients your body needs to recover, and, in effect, slowing down the healing process.
Here is where dry needling therapy for lower back pain treatment is particularly effective. It relaxes tense muscles in your lumbar area, allowing blood vessels to expand and deliver essential nutrients more effectively throughout the body, especially your back. Better circulation helps flush out metabolic waste products like lactic acid, which would otherwise cause muscle fatigue.
Dry needling is a game-changer if you want to speed up your recovery. As mentioned, muscle tension decreases blood flow and, in turn, slows down recovery times. So, relieving tense muscles gives your lumbar area the nutrients necessary for a faster healing process.
Having trouble bending or twisting your back the way you used to? You might have tight muscles restricting your flexibility. Fortunately, dry needling helps by targeting your lower back and releasing tight knots that limit movement. As muscles relax, your range of motion improves, allowing you to return to your daily routine and enjoy physical activities without limits!
Dry needling relieves lower back pain for days or weeks following treatment, especially when combined with other therapies. Multiple sessions can provide even longer-lasting relief. This is possible because dry needling addresses the root of your pain—trigger points—instead of masking it.
The integration of dry needling with other treatments like chiropractic care strengthens your treatment plan and helps you achieve better outcomes. For example, as dry needling releases your tight muscles, chiropractic adjustments restore muscle balance and overall body alignment. Meanwhile, adding rehabilitation exercises reinforces muscle strength and stability.
A recent study demonstrated that pain eased considerably faster among patients with chronic back pain who exercised and received dry needling treatments than those who only did the former.
Myofascial pain syndrome is a lasting condition that occurs when trigger points push down on your muscles and the thin cover of tissue holding them in place, called fascia. The pain often surfaces on your shoulders and back or manifests as headaches and face pain.
Dry needling targets these points directly, helping alleviate trigger points and break the pain cycle. In effect, you can enjoy fast relief from myofascial pain syndrome and regain function and comfort in your lower back.
One of the most assuring benefits of dry needling for lower back pain is its ability to stimulate your body’s innate pain-relieving process. When needles puncture your lower back, they stimulate your nervous system to release endorphins—your body’s natural painkillers. As such, dry needling is ideal if you want to avoid the adverse side effects of pharmaceutical painkillers.
Don’t want to go under the knife? Lucky for you, dry needling involves only the insertion of thin needles into specific areas of muscle tissue. The risk of side effects is low, and complications are rare if a trained professional does it correctly. That said, choosing a qualified practitioner is crucial to ensure the optimal outcome.
The benefits of dry needling for lower back pain boil down to providing immediate relief and supporting long-term recovery. So, consider dry needling treatments to get your back in good shape and enhance your overall quality of life.
Get the treatment you deserve with Stumpff Chiropractic. Our dry needling and chiropractic treatments, among many others, will help alleviate your symptoms so that you can live a more comfortable and pain-free life.
Schedule your appointment today!