Dry Needling & Fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia is an often misunderstood condition that the medical field is still learning more about. Fibromyalgia is diagnosed by chronic pain soft tissue pain in 11 out of 18 tender points on the body, typically along with sleep disturbances that makes it difficult for the body to fully rest and recover every night.

Because fibromyalgia still has so much mystery surrounding it, it can be difficult to get a treatment that works for you. Dry needling had typically been used to assist people with myofascial pain syndrome, but is now also being used to treat fibromyalgia as well. Be sure to consult with your doctor before starting any new treatments.

How Dry Needling Works

• Dry needling works by having a physical therapist inject a solid needle into your trigger points. This is also known as intramuscular stimulation. Karel Lewit noted in his paper, "The Needle Effect in the Relief of Myofascial Pain," that in many cases, a substance does not need to be injected--analgesia is often produced without it. This is called the needle effect. Some U.S. states do not allow dry needling to be practiced, but it is practiced in countries such as Africa, the Netherlands, Canada, Chile, Ireland, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and New Zealand. Dry needling is still considered an alternative medicine, which means that it's not regulated by the same rules and guidelines that govern traditional medicine.

Dry Needling Verses Acupuncture

• Acupuncture is considered a different branch of alternative medicine than dry needling. The techniques are similar, but the reasoning and the rationale are very different. The needles used are often the same, but dry needling is a Western alternative medicine practice, while acupuncture is an Eastern traditional/alternative medicine practice.

  Acupuncture has been used in China since the second century BCE, as recorded in the Chinese record Shiji. Dry needling started in the 20th century. Traditional Chinese medicine is based on patterns of disharmony, while modern Western medicine is based on biomedical reasoning. Both have been studied in a wide array of medical journals.

Dry Needling with Injection

• While dry needling can be practiced without steroids, David J. Alvarez, D.O., and Pamela G. Rockwell, D.O., found in their paper "American Family Physican" that injecting a small amount of Xylocaine isn't necessary for the effect of dry needling to take place, but it does make the recovery time faster and less painful.

Comparing Fibromyalgia with Myofascial Pain Syndrome

• There are more studies on dry needling and myofascial pain syndrome, but some researchers, such as Reuben S. Ingber, M.D., in his paper "Fibromyalgia and Myofascial Pain News," are willing to draw a correlation between fibromyalgia and myofascial pain syndrome in terms of the results netted from dry needling. However, fibromyalgia has to do with pain in soft tissue points, and myofascial pain syndrome is muscle pain. They are both chronic conditions.

Dry Needling for Fibromyalgia

• There are more case studies on the results of acupuncture and fibromyalgia than there are for dry needling and fibromyalgia. But in the book "Fibromyalgia & Other Central Pain Syndromes," researchers found that for some fibromyalgia sufferers, dry needling does provide relief.