Needles

[LrgmouthShad]

I have a confession to make. I am a big baby when it comes to needles. Had some dry needling done today on my back, PT wanted to try it to see how my body reacts to it, never done needling before, and I unfortunately was not very calm. 
 

“Just relax…”

*twitches intensely*
”Did I hit a nerve?”

”No…” I just can’t stand it that a needle is poking my muscle and making it twitch ?

 

This dry needling stuff isn’t supposed to be bad but I did not behave very well. At least my back feels nice. 
 

I can’t stand blood drawing the most but have given blood and will continue to. 

[Woody B]

I've never heard of dry needling.    Is it supposed to relax stressed muscles?    I don't "hate" needles, but I don't like them either.  I had a penicillin shot in my backside Friday for Strep throat. 

 

Over the years I've had cortisone shots in various spots.   Believe it or not the most painful ones were in my foot for plantar fasciitis.   I got one a while back in my neck.  I guess I made a face when the Doctor started the injection.  She said "are you OK".  I said "yes I expected it to hurt more".   She said your neck is the least painful place, and your foot is the most painful.  

Good luck, Mrs. B and myself wish you a speedy recovery.   

[LrgmouthShad]

4 minutes ago, Woody B said:

I've never heard of dry needling.    Is it supposed to relax stressed muscles

Id never heard of it either but that’s about the size of it. He looked for places in my lat and underneath my shoulder blade where there was tenderness or knots. He then poked them and often, he’d hit something he called a “trigger point” where the muscle is tight and not relaxed. The dry needling is supposed to increase blood flow to the affected muscles by relieving that pressure via soft tissue work.

[slonezp]

35 minutes ago, Woody B said:

I've never heard of dry needling.    Is it supposed to relax stressed muscles?    I don't "hate" needles, but I don't like them either.  I had a penicillin shot in my backside Friday for Strep throat. 

 

Over the years I've had cortisone shots in various spots.   Believe it or not the most painful ones were in my foot for plantar fasciitis.   I got one a while back in my neck.  I guess I made a face when the Doctor started the injection.  She said "are you OK".  I said "yes I expected it to hurt more".   She said your neck is the least painful place, and your foot is the most painful.  

Good luck, Mrs. B and myself wish you a speedy recovery.   

Probably similar to meat tenderizing. 

[throttleplate]

5 hours ago, LrgmouthShad said:

Id never heard of it either but that’s about the size of it. He looked for places in my lat and underneath my shoulder blade where there was tenderness or knots. He then poked them and often, he’d hit something he called a “trigger point” where the muscle is tight and not relaxed. The dry needling is supposed to increase blood flow to the affected muscles by relieving that pressure via soft tissue work.

 

I had the exact same pain under my shoulder blade on both sides and spent alot of my own money on dry needling. I got needled 2 times a week for 5 weeks.

It didnt help, I am all for dry needling and it has its place as it does what its supposed to.

In my case that shoulder blade area i got no relief and in fact on one occasion made it much worse for days and i called it quits after that.

 

How did i get rid of the pain deep under the blade in my rhomboids? Well first of all it may not be the rhomboid, it may be one of your 4 rotator cuff muscles-tendons that are tight.

Yes study up on the cuff and where they attach onto your back, yep, right under your blade and onwards to the shoulder joint.

I researched manys hours and watched many videos on how to stretch the 4 cuff muscles and i was cured after 10 days. I stretch them out every 5 days to keep it all good.

Now no doctor or therapist ever mentioned this to me, they all wanted to dry needle me, send me to therapy to build my muscles around the blades but no dr ever told me to stretch the back.

I figured this all on my own, i even hang from a beam in my basement fully off the ground for 75 seconds letting gravity pull me apart while  i untense my body.

Read on your own, research yourself as most therapists want to massage the sore trigger point  and build strength but always never have you stretch.

[GreenPig]

After 40 something kidney stones, the presence a needle usually meant some relief was coming. They could walk in with a 5 gauge and you'll take it and be grateful. 

[padlin]

Never tried dry needling but I have had my fair share of regular needles, from allergy shots, to home self injections. To me the hardest was the foot cortisone shot, I was jumping as soon as the doc touched my foot. I told him he'd have to strap it down to stop it from jumping, kind of like when they check your knee reflexes.

[LrgmouthShad]

5 hours ago, throttleplate said:

 

I had the exact same pain under my shoulder blade on both sides and spent alot of my own money on dry needling. I got needled 2 times a week for 5 weeks.

It didnt help, I am all for dry needling and it has its place as it does what its supposed to.

In my case that shoulder blade area i got no relief and in fact on one occasion made it much worse for days and i called it quits after that.

 

How did i get rid of the pain deep under the blade in my rhomboids? Well first of all it may not be the rhomboid, it may be one of your 4 rotator cuff muscles-tendons that are tight.

Yes study up on the cuff and where they attach onto your back, yep, right under your blade and onwards to the shoulder joint.

I researched manys hours and watched many videos on how to stretch the 4 cuff muscles and i was cured after 10 days. I stretch them out every 5 days to keep it all good.

Now no doctor or therapist ever mentioned this to me, they all wanted to dry needle me, send me to therapy to build my muscles around the blades but no dr ever told me to stretch the back.

I figured this all on my own, i even hang from a beam in my basement fully off the ground for 75 seconds letting gravity pull me apart while  i untense my body.

Read on your own, research yourself as most therapists want to massage the sore trigger point  and build strength but always never have you stretch.

Thanks for the info. For now I’ll see if what they are doing helps me but I can try some light stretching. The therapist told me that if the dry needling doesn’t produce results this first time then we won’t do it. I trust this guy. He seems flexible and is just trying out different things to see what helps me.

[gim]

14 hours ago, LrgmouthShad said:

I have a confession to make. I am a big baby when it comes to needles.

 

You're not the only one.  They freak me out too.  When I have to get a vaccine or a injectable treatment, I look the other way.

 

You'll never see a tattoo on my body because of the device used.  Basically the "jack hammer" of needles.  If I need a filling for a cavity, I get the laughing gas instead of a novocaine.

[MN Fisher]

5 minutes ago, gimruis said:

 

You're not the only one.  They freak me out too.  When I have to get a vaccine or a injectable treatment, I look the other way.

 

You'll never see a tattoo on my body because of the device used.  Basically the "jack hammer" of needles.  If I need a filling for a cavity, I get the laughing gas instead of a novocaine.

I'm the complete opposite...never had dry needling or even traditional acupuncture.

 

But - when I get blood drawn for testing, I'm watching the whole time. Shots...barely even notice them...and I have two tattoos that me and the artist worked on custom designing...so they're unique.

[Jigfishn10]

Not a fan of needles, but can tolerate them. The one thing I can't do is look at the needle being inserted, I have to look away.

 

At the beginning of Covid, my doc had me get a nerve study done. They first attached wires to different parts of my arm and sent electric pulses to full blown current and take readings. Then they needle parts of your arm and get reading on a graph. Felt like a pin cushion. 

 

Well the doc could care less about wiping up the blood after every needle he inserted. I walked in with a white shirt and left with 1 sleeve white with red polka dots. I looked like a drive by victim.

[PhishLI]

15 hours ago, Woody B said:

Believe it or not the most painful ones were in my foot

Me too. Way worse than in the knee. When I saw the ridiculous length of the needle for my foot surgery I was concerned. It didn't make sense. I asked the nurse why it was so long, but she she'd only say it's no big deal, nothing but a pinch. When the surgeon came in I told him I knew the nurse was lying, so I asked him not to lie too. He explained that it needed to be long to traverse from the back of my heel and deep into the nerve. He also told me it will be the worst pain I'd ever felt by a long shot. He juiced me up with nitrous. The pain was so intense that I actually laughed hysterically. Worse than that, I felt them cutting, and needed another poke.

15 hours ago, LrgmouthShad said:

I have a confession to make. I am a big baby when it comes to needles. Had some dry needling done today on my back,

As long as you can't see them going in. I'm not a fan either.

[Skunkmaster-k]

I’m normally not too squeamish about needles, but when a friend of mine cut my top lip off , the doc that sewed it back on was talking to his nurse while swinging that needle around my face like a sword fighter. It was all I could do to stay hitched. 

[Darth-Baiter]

dry needling same as Acupuncture?  

 

I'm not freaked out with needles anymore.  I can actually inject myself.  they could mail me my flu shot.  hahah

whoever mentioned a needle in a foot.  I had one injection.  needle was so long!!!  I asked the Podiatrist why it needed to be so long.  he said he was doing the injection from the top of the foot to numb the sole.  WHAT!!!  he said he wouldn't be able to hold me down if they go thru the bottom.  hahahha..

[throttleplate]

Getting cavities filled while i was living in the philippines was very cheap.

Cost 500 peso = $10.00 or 750 peso= 15.00 if you wanted the tooth deadened.

The average philipino makes 300 peso= $6.00 a day.

Many a patient couldnt afford the needle.

Thats the reason many philipinos dont have any teeth left.

 

 

[NavyToad]

@throttleplate I was stationed at CUBI Point ‘88-‘92. Still married. I can’t even visit right now without vaxx. I love P.I..

[TnRiver46]

My buddy that was in the Air Force said they just stuck all kinds of needles in ya, no telling what they all were haha. Just line up and get stuck 

[ScottW]

31 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

My buddy that was in the Air Force said they just stuck all kinds of needles in ya, no telling what they all were haha. Just line up and get stuck 

Army did the same. We were just an assembly line for the phalanx of needle stickers. ?

[12poundbass]

Up until age 19 I had never been stuck with a needle except for vaccinations which I didn’t remember. Then I had blood drawn and my good friends dad who was my Dr. Said “you’re white as a ghost”. The blood test came back along with a cancer diagnosis a few days later, then I became a pin cushion! ?

 

Once released (I called it paroled) from a two week hospital stay I was sent home with shots I had to give myself to boost my immune system. I was a sissy about it, counting to three then stopping the needle as it barely poked my stomach. After a couple days I had bruises all over my stomach. It was until I spent another two weeks in hospital isolation because I was neutropenic did I finally buck up and start giving myself shots.

 

Guess what? Needles don’t bother me anymore. ?

[MN Fisher]

1 hour ago, TnRiver46 said:

My buddy that was in the Air Force said they just stuck all kinds of needles in ya, no telling what they all were haha. Just line up and get stuck 

Hasn't changed much then....was the same when I went into the AF back in 1980.

[Choporoz]

My first couple ships, we still got paid in cash.  The Disbursing Officer set up on the mess decks with a big cash box and we stood in line to get paid.  You could count on two others waiting on the mess decks.  The Master at Arms would take you out of line and send you to the barber before you got to the Disbo if you needed a haircut.  And the Doc was there giving shots when you stood in line.

 

I had a good buddy who was a former EOD diver...tough SOB.  But you get close to him with a needle and he'd pass out cold.  Had to lie down in sick bay to get his shots, so he wouldn't fall out.

 

I never minded getting stuck, but I won't watch, either.  Had to look away.  Still do.

 

[throttleplate]

6 hours ago, NavyToad said:

@throttleplate I was stationed at CUBI Point ‘88-‘92. Still married. I can’t even visit right now without vaxx. I love P.I..

 

I was stationed in guam and didnt make it to the PI back in 1985. When i got out of the military i always said i was going to live there one day in the PI, now called the PH for polittical correctness.

Finally in 2009 i retired from civilian life and moved to the PH for 10 years and brought my panay wife back home to the usa in 2019.

She wants to go visit her familly but i am not vaccinated and she is not vaxxed.

Also airfare for round trip is insane and now monkey pox is causing a stir back in the PH.

[Columbia Craw]

Clearly you don’t know my wife who needles me daily.

[MN Fisher]

12 minutes ago, Columbia Craw said:

Clearly you don’t know my wife who needles me daily.

[Mobasser]

I've never liked a shot in the rear, but otherwise needles don't bother me. Recently got a shingles vaccine, and took the shot in my arm. Not a problem.