Bringing TDN Instruction to Canada!

Thu, 8 Oct 2009

Dr. Annie Fox, PT, DPT, COMT recently instructed with GEMt Seminars with owner Edo Zylstra, PT, MS IMSp and Lesley Poladsky, Course Coordinator,  in their first venue in Canada! Ottawa is a delightful city with many enthusiastic and knowledgeable physiotherapists. We look forward to our return to this exciting country!

What is TDN (Trigger Point Dry Needling)?

Trigger Point Dry Needling involves multiple advances of a filament needle into the muscle in the region of a "Trigger Point'. The aim of Dry Needling is to achieve a local twitch response to release muscle tension and pain. Dry needling is an effective treatment for chronic pain of neuropathic origin with very few side effects. This technique is unequalled in finding and eliminating neuromuscular dysfunction that leads to pain and functional deficits. The needle used is very thin and most subjects do not even feel it penetrate the skin. A healthy muscle feels very little discomfort with insertion of this needle. However if the muscle is sensitive and shortened or has active trigger points within it, the subject will feel a sensation like a muscle cramp -'the twitch response'. The patient also may feel a reproduction of "their" pain which is a helpful diagnostic indicator for the practitioner attempting to diagnose the cause of the patients symptoms. Patients soon learn to recognise and even welcome this sensation as it results in deactivating the trigger point, reducing pain and restoring normal length function to the involved muscle.