Specialist technique
Dry Needling
What it is, what it isn’t, and why it works.
If you’ve heard “dry needling” and immediately pictured acupuncture, you’re not alone. The needles look similar — but the approach, the philosophy, and the target are entirely different.
“Pain has a way of convincing you that certain things are just part of life now. Dry needling is a reminder that the body is always capable of change — it sometimes just needs the right invitation.”
What is dry needling?
A precise conversation between needle and tissue.
Dry needling is a technique used by trained physical therapists to treat myofascial pain and dysfunction. A thin, sterile, single-use filiform needle — the same style used in acupuncture, but that’s where the similarity ends — is inserted directly into a trigger point: a tight band of muscle that is generating pain, restricting movement, or referring sensation elsewhere in the body.
The “dry” part simply means there is no medication or injection involved. Just the needle. Just the tissue. Just a very precise conversation between the two.
“When the needle contacts the trigger point, it often produces what’s called a local twitch response — a brief, involuntary contraction of the muscle. That twitch is a good sign. It means the needle found what it was looking for, and the muscle is responding.”
After the twitch, the tissue releases. Blood flow increases. The nervous system recalibrates. And something that may have been locked up for months — sometimes years — finally lets go.
Understanding the difference
Dry needling is rooted in Western science.
While acupuncture is grounded in Traditional Chinese Medicine and the concept of energy meridians, dry needling is built on Western anatomy, neuroscience, and musculoskeletal research.
Physical therapists who practise dry needling are trained to understand exactly which muscles refer pain to which areas, how trigger points develop and perpetuate, and how the nervous system’s response to chronic pain keeps dysfunction alive long after the original injury has healed.
At WildHer, dry needling is never used in isolation. It is one precise tool within a comprehensive plan — used alongside manual therapy, corrective exercise, and movement retraining to create change that actually holds.
What it can treat
Trigger points don’t discriminate.
They develop in response to overuse, underuse, injury, poor posture, stress, and compensation patterns that build up over time. That means dry needling has a broad reach — from orthopedic dysfunctions to pelvic floor problems.
What to expect
Different for everyone — and every session.
The experience of dry needling varies from person to person, and honestly from session to session. Here’s what’s typical:
A tool that respects the body
It doesn’t force anything — it creates an invitation.
The WildHer philosophy
“The body is always capable of change. It sometimes just needs the right invitation.”
What we love about dry needling is that it doesn’t force anything. It creates an opportunity — a signal to the nervous system that it’s safe to release, safe to let go of a pattern that no longer serves you. The body does the rest.
The tightness in your hip, the ache in your low back, the tension you carry in your pelvis — dry needling is a reminder that these aren’t simply who you are. They are patterns. And patterns can change.
Wondering if dry needling
is right for you?
Start with a free 15-minute virtual consultation —
we’d love to hear your story and help figure out the next step.