Key Takeaways
- I am trained in dry needling and used it for years. I stopped, and I no longer keep the equipment.
- I did not stop because it fails. Needling can quiet a trigger point, but the relief is mostly short-term.
- I use the John F. Barnes Myofascial Release Approach instead. It treats the whole pattern that created the knot, not just the knot.
- If you came looking for dry needling, talk to me first. Same conditions, gentler tool, longer-lasting result.
Hi, it’s Subrat. If you found this page, you’re probably fighting a stubborn knot of muscle pain — in your neck, your back, a shoulder — and someone told you dry needling might help. Here’s something you won’t read on most clinic pages: I am trained in dry needling. I used it on real patients for years. And I chose to stop. I do not offer it anymore, and I did not even keep the equipment.
Why I put the needles away
I did not stop because it fails. A thin needle placed into a trigger point — the tight band inside a muscle — can quiet that muscle for a while. I stopped because, over more than twenty years and thousands of patients, I found something that does more, works gentler, and lasts longer when the person does their part. That something is myofascial release: hands-on work through the fascia, the connective tissue that wraps every muscle in your body. Specifically, it is the John F. Barnes Myofascial Release Approach — the method I trained in, have practiced for many years, and still return to seminars for. That is the real reason the needles went away: not a preference, but a deeper method opening up.
Dry needling chases the knot. The muscle twitches, it lets go, and you feel better that day. Then a few weeks later the knot is often back, because the needle never asked why it formed. This is not only my opinion. Even the research on needling — the more studied of the two techniques — mostly shows short-term pain relief, with needling performing about the same as other hands-on treatments. That is not a flaw in the therapist. It is the ceiling of treating one spot at a time.
What I use instead
Myofascial release works the whole pattern instead of the single point. When someone comes in with neck pain, the real driver is often in the mid-back, or an old hip that has been guarding for years. I follow the tissue to where it is actually pulling — frequently somewhere the person would never connect to their pain. There is no needle. Most people find the work calming rather than sore. The same applies to back pain, shoulder pain, and long-standing chronic pain.
And in my experience, when we release the root pattern and the person changes the daily habits that built it — how they sit, how they sleep, how they move — the relief holds. I tell every patient the same thing: I can change the tissue, but you have to change what keeps re-creating the problem. When both happen, the results last.
Why you will not find myofascial release in a stack of studies
I will be honest about that. The work I do is individual. It changes with each body, each visit, each pair of hands, and it does not fit the way research is usually run, where everyone gets the same standard dose so it can be counted. The people who practice this well are treating patients, not writing papers. One day I may write mine up. Until then, my evidence is the thousands of people who walked out of this clinic in Carbondale moving better than when they came in.
Questions people ask me
I came here for dry needling. Do you still do it?
No. I am trained in it and used it for years, but I stopped and no longer keep the equipment. I treat the same muscle and trigger-point pain with hands-on myofascial release.
Is dry needling the same as acupuncture?
No. Dry needling targets muscle trigger points using Western anatomy. Acupuncture works with energy meridians from traditional Chinese medicine. The needles look similar; the thinking behind them is completely different.
Will myofascial release hurt the way needling can?
There is no needle, and most people do not get the next-day soreness needling sometimes causes. You will feel firm, deep pressure — more like “that is the exact spot” than “ouch.”
Why would hands work better than a needle?
Because your pain usually is not only where it hurts. A needle treats the spot. My hands can follow the whole pattern to where it actually starts.
How many sessions until I feel better?
It depends how long the pattern has been building. Some people feel a real shift in the first visit or two. Long-standing problems take longer. I will tell you honestly after I evaluate you.
Will the relief last?
When we treat the root pattern and you follow through on the daily habits we talk about, yes. That is the part a needle cannot give you.
If you came here looking for dry needling, talk to me first. I have done both. I chose to stop for a reason, and I would rather spend five minutes on what is actually happening in that muscle than send you off for a treatment I moved past.
This page is for general education, not medical advice. Everyone’s body and history are different — for guidance on your specific situation, talk with a licensed physical or occupational therapist. Synergy Therapeutic Group · 1110 N Cedar Court, Carbondale, IL 62901 · (618) 243-7822.