Dry Needling vs. fascial manipulation

[Guest guest]

There was some discussion in regards to dry needling versus fascial manipulation last year in Italy. I believe the consensus of the class (which included PT's that employed dry needling) was that more could be done with specific manual treatment of the fascia than with dry needling of trigger points. The Fascial Manipulation assessment and treatment protocol is based on finding very specific aberrations within the fascia in each patient. It is a technique that utilizes in depth history taking and evidence based testing parameters to find very specific points of fascial densification and then to manually restore the integrity of the structure to allow correct proprioceptive feedback from the richly innervated fascial structures that help initiate and guide the gross and intricate movements of the body. In doing so, ease is brought to the musculoskeletal system which can then perform its proper functions rather than trying to compensate for old injuries or restrictive habitual patterns of movement (which can propagate degenerative changes). Luigi Stecco has found that fascial densifications coincide with many acupuncture points, not surprising given the evidence that acupuncture works at a fascial level. And, Sunny, it is all done by hand!RodRodney G. DCTillamook Natural Health Center309 Laurel Ave.Tillamook, OR 97141503-842-6532PS - Warren Hammer's podcast interview that Dr. Kahn forwarded to the list gives a great overview of the technique. This is modern cutting edge stuff and dovetails with chiropractic treatments extremely well, I use fascial techniques on almost all of my patients now and I find that adjustments are much easier when I work the associated fascia first - it seems to relieve the tension on the joints much better than anything I have used in the past. I hope that every DC interested in truly helping their patients with musculoskeletal problems will look into taking either the Eugene courses or Warren Hammer's Las Vegas courses. I will now step down from my soapbox..... FASCIAL MANIPULATON Courses Eugene and Las Vegas

Treatment of the fascia and understanding at to how fascia is directly related to Chiropractic indeed, for me, has been a missing link. The board is reviewing another fascial treatment, dry needling of myofascial trigger points, as part of the DC scope of practice. I envision UWS to soon be the premier school for the broadest of training for treatment of neuro- musculo-fascial-skeletal issues.

s. fuchs dc