Dry Needling Therapy In Islamabad
Dr. Aleem Liaqat
Dr. Aleem Liaqat is internationally recognized expert in treating disorders related to human movement. He has done his graduation from Rawalpindi Medical University and post-graduation from Isra University. His main areas of interest are soft tissue mobilization, sports physical therapy and musculoskeletal disorders. Dr. Aleem Liaquat is Certified Dry Needling Practitioner. He is the only certified Mulligan Practitioner in twin cities i.e. Islamabad and Rawalpindi of Pakistan. He is also certified Spinal Manual Therapist from manual concepts, Australia. He is certified Kinesio Taping Practitioner from Kinesio University, United States. He has also done certification in Orthopedic Sports Kinesio Taping Specialist.
He has vast experience in physical therapy and rehabilitation. He is expert in treating different spinal, orthopedic and musculoskeletal disorders.
About Dry Needling
Dry needling is a non-injection technique that aims in stimulating specific reactions in tissues of body. This technique utilizes filament solid needles that are sterile, single use and disposable. It is a safe procedure and side effects are very rare. Physical therapy and rehabilitation embrace latest and new technologies with innovative therapies that are mostly ignored by the traditional medicine.
Our treatment focuses on reducing muscle pain and dysfunction by utilizing dry needling in our treatment. Dry needling targets to activate myofascial trigger points which are tiny knots in muscle tissue. Trigger points are mostly present across injured tissues, and it leads to pain syndromes including TMJ pain, back pain, neck pain, fibromyalgia and many other muscular disorders. It is used for variety of musculoskeletal problems such as neck, shoulder, back, heel, hip pain, etc. Research indicates that it is effective and safe approach for managing pain and dysfunction.
Dry Needling Procedure
Dry needling is performed by highly trained and skilled physical therapists. A microfilament needle is inserted in skin and treats myofascial trigger points for managing movement impairments and neuro musculoskeletal pain.
First, a manual examination is performed to find out the exact area of suspected trigger points. Common regions of trigger points are reduced joint mobility, failure of load transfer, hypermobility of joint and fascial adhesions.
Your physical therapist will ask to adjust your clothes so that area of treatment can be properly assessed. Then your therapist will start by preparing needles and sterilizing the area to be treated. Then needle is inserted in the skin above trigger point just 5 millimeters(mm) to 10 mm deep for 30 seconds. Insertion is repeated few times later. Then needles are removed and discarded. Your therapist will inspect for skin reactions and bleeding.
What To Expect After Dry Needling Treatment?
Sometimes the patient may experience soreness for 24 hours, so patient is recommended to avoid sports and excessive walking. Once soreness diminishes, the patient starts experiencing improvements of their complaint.
In case of chronic trigger points, they may reappear in different location so dry needling may be recommended again. It is not possible to perform dry needling on both sides i.e., front and back of the body within a single session, so it is recommended to perform multiple sessions. In most cases two treatments are enough and we do not perform more than 3 sessions on average. However, in extreme cases it is necessary to perform 3-5 sessions.
Our decision to perform dry needling depends on condition of individual patient and diagnosis. We usually conduct a comprehensive consultation before performing procedure.
Dry needling therapy:
During dry needling therapy, a relaxation response is elicited by insertion of needle into trigger point. As no medication is inserted by needle so we called this procedure as dry needling. The effect of needle is pain elimination by taking pressure off the muscle, nervous and connective tissues.
At IPRC, our dry needling technique is performed accurately by dry needling specialists ensuring reduction of pain and improving outcome of patients within shortest possible time.
Dry needling vs trigger point injections:
Trigger point injections insert medications into the trigger points. This procedure has low efficacy and has several drawbacks as well.
The first disadvantage is the delivery of pain medications into the trigger points. Evidence showed that insertion of pain medications has no significant role in reducing or eliminating symptoms related to trigger points. The process of pain medication injections is like dry needling but dry needling pierces the trigger points by insertion of needle without delivery of medications.
The second disadvantage or drawback is that trigger point injections are conducted blind meaning that they only target superficial trigger points that are palpated from surface of skin. But some trigger points are present deep within the muscle and connective tissues near the joints or within the muscle belly next to arteries and nerves. Deep trigger points cannot be reduced by this blind injection technique. We properly examine and access for trigger point and accurately target them to reduce and eliminate pain for good.
Advantages of Dry Needling
Inserting needles into trigger points leads to muscle relaxation, increases flow of blood, reduces inflammation, and accelerates healing process. This procedure also accelerates release of natural pain relievers of the body.
Some other advantages of dry needling include:
Get Fast and Effective Pain Relief:
Most people experience trigger points leading to pain in shoulder, back, neck or joints and overuse injuries. Pain is reduced as the trigger points relaxes and blood flow is increased. Increased blood flow causes appropriate delivery of oxygen and nutrients and removal of acidic and painful wastes from the muscle.
May patient experiences immediate pain relief after performance of dry needling technique even after a single session. This technique leads to faster relief of pain and improving condition of patient.
Regain mobility or range of motion (ROM):
Multiple trigger points often lead to reduction of mobility or range of motion. At IPRC, we incorporate dry needling to your treatment protocols so that mobility is increased, and trigger points are eliminated for good.
Accelerate healing:
Dry needling along with physical therapy accelerates healing of patient so that you can enjoy active and pain free life.
Improve chronic pain conditions:
Dry needling is very effective in easing pain conditions like myofascial pain syndromes and fibromyalgia. Evidence proved the effectiveness of dry needling in reducing chronic pain conditions and improving patient outcomes.
Dr. Aleem Certifications In Physical Therapy
Certified Dry Needling Practitioner
He is also Certified Dry Needling practitioner (UK). Dry needling is very useful in reducing and relieving pain and will reduce spasm in your muscles. It aids in improving flexibility and mobility and increases range of motion. Muscular pain and even fibromyalgia pain is reduced with dry needling.
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Dr. Aleem also delivers lecture on ergonomics at corporate sector in whole Pakistan including Telenor, PTCL and Ufone.