How Dry Needling Has Helped People – Dr. Fishkin Shares His Experiences
In my conversation with Dr. David Fishkin we spoke about what dry needling is and how it works within the body. In the second part of the interview we really get into the way that dry needling has worked in specific cases, and how it impacts acute and chronic pain. Dr. Fishkin shares anecdotes from over 33 years of his experiences of this therapy. We also discuss how other chiropractors view this therapy, and Dr. Fishkin shares how people can enroll for certification courses at the Dry Needling Institute.
Stories about dry needling.
Dr. Fishkin shares anecdotal evidence based on his own experience. He explains that dry needling works to manage and lower chronic pain as well as to resolve acute pain. Chronic pain would include joint pain, the kind of pain caused by repetitive stress, long periods of sitting etc. that impacts the musculoskeletal system. Acute pain is the sort that could be caused by trauma, or an accident. Tissues get shorter and tighter, and blood circulation is impacted so that oxygenation of cell mitochondria becomes impaired. Dr. Fishkin helps people manage the stiffness, tension and pain to varying degrees. In some cases it is resolved, while in others it helps the patients manage the condition better.
There have been some dramatic changes noted: In one case a person with pancreatic cancer was in so much pain that he was in a wheelchair when he approached Dr. Fishkin. With dry needling therapy, the patient felt relief after the first session, and in two weeks he was out of the wheelchair and able to walk. While his cancer remained he had a better quality of life thanks to the therapy. In another instance, the therapy was able to resolve a case of Bell’s Palsy, which causes one half of the face to droop, within just 10 days.
The idea is to soothe a person in pain and calm the system at a time when the nervous system is in a heightened state. Dr. Fishkin has also been able to help people with emotional pain such as PTSD, which is known to cause physical symptoms such as seizing of the tissue and physical pain.
How does dry needling relate to chiropractic therapy?
Chiropractic therapy bases itself on the manipulation of limbs and joints that will in turn help resolve issues downline. Here we use physical manipulation so that we can avoid invasive methods that use drugs and/or surgery. So while some chiropractors do not use dry needling there are some who, like Dr. Fishkin, see dry needling as complementary to chiropractic therapy.
In Dr. Fishkin’s experience, the impacts of chiropractic treatments are more effective and longer lasting when the soft tissue system has been managed and released with the help of dry needling beforehand. In many cases he finds that dry needling tends to solve the problem successfully, so that the patient does not even need chiropractic manipulation. It is science and not a belief system, he says!
If you are someone who would like to opt for a natural therapy that helps resolve or manage pain without medications or surgery, you may want to consider dry needling. Dr. Fishkin is one of the foremost practitioners of the therapy, and is the founder of the Dry Needling Institute where people can receive training/certification. Listen to my interview with Dr. Fishkin to learn more.
