Dry Needling in Tampa, FL

What is dry needling?

Dry needling is the use of fine needles to stimulate the repair of highly sensitive muscle or fascia fibers that are causing pain. Whether the result of sitting at a desk for too long, overuse or trauma from a sport or other activity, or from day-to-day stress, injury to muscle and connective tissue is the most common cause and contributor to pain.

The needle gently stimulates the highly reactive fibers, or trigger points, along with surrounding tissue, often eliciting a "light twitch" (reflex) response and provoking the sensitive fibers to respond by protecting and repairing themselves.

What to expect

• The procedure is quick — you're in and out of the office in about 30 minutes.
• A typical course of treatment is one to two times a week for 4–6 weeks, followed by a re-evaluation.
• As with everything in the body, it depends on the severity of the problem and how a patient's body responds to the procedure.
• Dry needling treatment can and often does result in a complete absence or control of symptoms, even in severe conditions that have been present for years.

Dry needling sounds like acupuncture. What's the difference?

While both acupuncture and dry needling use acupuncture needles to puncture the skin and create changes in the body, there is a difference in technique. The intention of why you are puncturing the skin with these needles is the difference. Dry needling is not Traditional Chinese medicine, which is what most acupuncturists practice in America.

In short, dry needling is focused on restoring healthy anatomy and physiology through stimulation of injured local muscle tissue. Many sites for dry needling overlap with acupuncture points, but the needle techniques are very different between the two practices.

Dry needling is in fact the same as Trigger Point Acupuncture or Orthopedic Acupuncture, which has been practiced for 2000 years. With both dry needling and trigger point acupuncture we are performing specific orthopedic assessments, and needling into muscles, tendons, ligaments and targeting trigger points. In fact, there are ancient textbooks that describe common orthopedic examination techniques and needling techniques that have been adopted by practitioners who think they recently discovered "dry needling."

During a dry needling treatment, unlike an acupuncture treatment, we are not needling points because they relate to an internal organ structure or because of their said effects on any energetic system within the body. During a dry needling treatment Dr. Josh is always focused on releasing trigger points or stimulating motor points at the neuromuscular bundle, for the purpose of improving musculoskeletal function.

What's the difference between an acupuncturist who does dry needling vs. a physical therapist who does dry needling?

The difference is the amount of training and experience.

Dr. Hanson has been performing dry needling for close to a decade and performed over 35,000 procedures. He is also certified in injection therapy and has extensive training in ultrasound techniques. In contrast, physical therapists have only been legally able to perform dry needling in Florida since 2020. As a doctorate-level acupuncturist, with a specialty in orthopedics, his only job is treating patients in pain using tools like dry needling.

• According to Gattie et al. (2020), in a survey of physical therapists' current practices in dry needling, most physical therapists only perform between 0–3 dry needling sessions a day.
• Physical therapists only need 54 hours of training to perform dry needling in Florida — something that is often done in a couple of short weekend courses. During these courses, physical therapists learn to needle a small amount of muscles and basic protocols.

How much does dry needling cost?

If you'd like to see how much dry needling in Tampa, FL with Dr. Josh Hanson costs, please check out our Fees page for the most current pricing information.