In & Out vs Marinating…?

Logan!
First off, I love the name of your subject! lol!
Second, let me apologize for taking some time to get back to you. I wanted to look up a few things before I responded.

The best answer I can really find is best described by Dr. Dunning in his article: DN- a lit review with clinical implications (1). Most clinical trial research we have, have left needles in for 5-40 minutes and a systematic review showed that leaving needles in the low back for 10 minutes was “better” than immediate removal.

With that said, from a clinical experience perspective, I think there are times when in and out (for safety reasons…upper trap, pec, lat/ teres) is still highly effective and I have seen huge, positive changes with that method. Theoretically, all we need to do is create a lesion to begin the physiological cascade of healing.

I do also feel (personally when I get needled, and subjectively from my athletes) that specifically when in contractile tissue (aka muscle and ligament) that people feel a “letting go” sensation as we let that needle “marinate”. I know I feel like the muscle is melting/ relaxing/ letting go when it is left for some time to fit.

So, for now based on the evidence we have, I will leave a needle sit for up to 40 minutes (but often 10 minutes simply based on scheduling) unless I have a safety concern. In those cases, I am relying on the physiological cascade being kick started by simply creating the lesion.

This would be a FANTASTIC study for any grad student or researcher out there…same diagnosis…same needle areas, different in situ times…look at outcomes. Any takers??? :-)

Hope that helps.
Sue