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Capt. Shaun O’Laughlin was looking for educational classes and for better treatment methods for his physical therapy patients in a combat zone. He came across a technique that uses acupuncture-style needles to alleviate pain in joints and muscles.
Two years later, O’Laughlin has become certified to perform trigger-point dry needling, a form of physical therapy used in combination with other, more traditional physical therapy practices. The physical therapist at Munson Army Health Center said he uses trigger-point dry needling almost every day to help patients.
“It’s great for treating the trigger points,” O’Laughlin said. “But what’s causing the trigger points? It could be posture, diet, caffeine, or maybe it’s trauma or even genetics.”
O’Laughlin said he looks at all of these problems in addition to the dry needling treatment.
Patients must first be referred by a primary care provider to physical therapy to see O’Laughlin.
Dry needling differs from acupuncture because it only focuses on muscular problems, tension headaches or issues traditionally resolved through physical therapy, O’Laughlin said. Acupunture, a centuries old eastern medicine, teaches Eastern ideas about meridians on the body and an energy called “qi.” Trigger point dry needling uses acupuncture-style needles in pressure points identified by Western medicine to help with physical therapy.
O’Laughlin uses several sizes of sterile needles. The process is called “dry” needling because the needles don’t inject any fluids or medicine.
“They’re pretty small,” O’Laughlin said of the needles. “Most people don’t really feel them until it hits a muscle.”
If he inserts needles into an area to relieve knotted muscles, O’Laughlin said, it can release pain and pressure. Levels of various chemicals build up around an area of knotted muscles — such as those that act on neurons and pain receptors — because the muscle contraction cuts off the capillaries. However, those levels of chemicals tend to go down in the area around a knotted muscle after a dry needling treatment, O’Laughlin said.
Dry needling can also help expand the muscles, giving them more range of movement, O’Laughlin said.
He also uses the treatment for certain types of headaches.
“I’ve seen good results on relieving pain from muscle tension headaches,” he said.
Sometimes, other physical therapists at MAHC even refer patients to O’Laughlin because the patients are interested in the treatment.
“If it’s a patient (the physical therapist) thinks will benefit, they’ll stick them on my schedule for treatment,” he said.
O’Laughlin said there are few risks when using sterilized needles for the treatment. He said there is a concern of puncturing a lung in the thoracic area, but he rarely inserts needles into that area of the body for physical therapy.
“Most of the stuff I do is in a safe area, and I’m always really cautious anyway,” he said.
O’Laughlin recently transferred to Fort Leavenworth from Fort Carson, Colo., where he’s been practicing the dry needling treatment. He received certification from Kinetacore, a physical therapy organization in Colorado. He also receives permission from the clinics he works in to perform the treatments.
Capt. Shaun O’Laughlin was looking for educational classes and for better treatment methods for his physical therapy patients in a combat zone. He came across a technique that uses acupuncture-style needles to alleviate pain in joints and muscles.
Two years later, O’Laughlin has become certified to perform trigger-point dry needling, a form of physical therapy used in combination with other, more traditional physical therapy practices. The physical therapist at Munson Army Health Center said he uses trigger-point dry needling almost every day to help patients.
“It’s great for treating the trigger points,” O’Laughlin said. “But what’s causing the trigger points? It could be posture, diet, caffeine, or maybe it’s trauma or even genetics.”
O’Laughlin said he looks at all of these problems in addition to the dry needling treatment.
Patients must first be referred by a primary care provider to physical therapy to see O’Laughlin.
Dry needling differs from acupuncture because it only focuses on muscular problems, tension headaches or issues traditionally resolved through physical therapy, O’Laughlin said. Acupunture, a centuries old eastern medicine, teaches Eastern ideas about meridians on the body and an energy called “qi.” Trigger point dry needling uses acupuncture-style needles in pressure points identified by Western medicine to help with physical therapy.
O’Laughlin uses several sizes of sterile needles. The process is called “dry” needling because the needles don’t inject any fluids or medicine.
“They’re pretty small,” O’Laughlin said of the needles. “Most people don’t really feel them until it hits a muscle.”
If he inserts needles into an area to relieve knotted muscles, O’Laughlin said, it can release pain and pressure. Levels of various chemicals build up around an area of knotted muscles — such as those that act on neurons and pain receptors — because the muscle contraction cuts off the capillaries. However, those levels of chemicals tend to go down in the area around a knotted muscle after a dry needling treatment, O’Laughlin said.
Dry needling can also help expand the muscles, giving them more range of movement, O’Laughlin said.
He also uses the treatment for certain types of headaches.
“I’ve seen good results on relieving pain from muscle tension headaches,” he said.
Sometimes, other physical therapists at MAHC even refer patients to O’Laughlin because the patients are interested in the treatment.
“If it’s a patient (the physical therapist) thinks will benefit, they’ll stick them on my schedule for treatment,” he said.
O’Laughlin said there are few risks when using sterilized needles for the treatment. He said there is a concern of puncturing a lung in the thoracic area, but he rarely inserts needles into that area of the body for physical therapy.
“Most of the stuff I do is in a safe area, and I’m always really cautious anyway,” he said.
O’Laughlin recently transferred to Fort Leavenworth from Fort Carson, Colo., where he’s been practicing the dry needling treatment. He received certification from Kinetacore, a physical therapy organization in Colorado. He also receives permission from the clinics he works in to perform the treatments.
