Dry Needling For Runners

Pointing At Your Feet: Drying Needling

For a runner, running injuries can cause not only pain and discomfort, it can have long term implications to performance. If you are a competitive runner, you would have experienced a few types of running injury: plantar fasciitis, Achilles tendonitis and runner’s knee, to name a few. For many competitive athletes, there are a lot of limitations on what you can, or cannot do when you are treating an injury.

No Medications Involved

Cortisone is a form of steroid, hence cortisone injections to treat any inflammation is a poor choice when you are planning to compete. Not only cortisone is a short term band- aid to stop inflammation, it does not address the root issue. Cortisone injections can also cause tendon rupture, which will stop you running even longer. You can use anti- inflammatory medications such as diclofenac, ibuprofen and mefenamic acid, but the relieve is also short term, and it does not let your injury heal. Other popular options such as hot or cold packs will make your aching muscles better, but the inflamed muscles and tendons are still painful and angry.

Dry Needling As Adjunct

There are studies that show that alongside proper exercise and bio-mechanical adjustments, dry needling helps with the pain and stiffness of muscular injury. Using acupuncture needles, we target the muscles to trigger a flood of hormones into the area. The hormones can help relax the muscles, and trigger the body to heal naturally. As it is a drug- free alternative, most sports associations allow the use of this adjunct therapy. Hence, in addition to this, you may be prescribed exercises to do at home.

There are people who might complain of soreness post needling, mainly to do with the muscle readjusting to the trigger, the soreness may be due to local twitch response when the needles were first inserted. Typically the soreness last up to two days, and the cramping sensation during session is a favorable response. While some of you experience relief and improvement after the first session, most will take a few more sessions to see the full benefit of dry needling. Aside from the soreness, there is no other adverse effects of dry needling.

Who benefits from dry needling

If you are suffering from feet pain due to running and sports, chances are you will find dry needling an option. Even though there are some contraindications, dry needling is considered a safe supportive therapy. We offer dry needling as part of your treatment program, so if you are interested and would like to see how it can help you, you can book in by calling us or clicking on the get offer button on the right.

Reference:

Uttam, Manisha & Lehri, Anuradha & Yadav, Harshita. (2017). An Update on the Potential Role of Emerging Adjunct Techniques for the Management of Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome. International Journal of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (IJHRS). 6. 30. 10.5455/ijhrs.0000000120.