The 12 days of dry needling, a gift guide for 2024

The holiday season is a time for singing songs, making cookies, and catching up on studies. Forget the five golden rings; we are opening something more critical this year. Twelve days of cutting-edge dry needling research. Consider this your gift guide for enhancing patient care in the coming year!

Like the 12 Days of Christmas, this research compilation becomes more exciting with each passing day. From biceps tendinopathy breakthroughs to headache-relieving regimens, we will find the data that will have you singing “Joy to the World” (and maybe a few Christmas tunes as well!).

So grab a cup of cheer, snuggle down by the fire with your favorite furbaby, and prepare to start the 12 Days of Dry Needling—your patients will benefit from the time spent relaxing.

Day 1: A Leap Forward for Biceps Tendinopathy

This year brought encouraging news for treating long head of biceps brachii tendinopathy! Research shows dry needling is as effective as TENS for pain and function and superior for reducing effusion (Chen et al., 2024). Give your patients the gift of lasting relief!

Day 2: A Sobering Reminder for Safety

While generally safe, dry needling has potential risks. This year, a case series reminded us of the rare but severe complication of pneumothorax (Bontinck et al., 2024). Remember: Informed consent, precise technique, and vigilance are paramount, especially when treating the neck, shoulder, and chest.

Day 3: Neck Pain Relief: 1-2 Punch!

Do you have patients with chronic neck pain? This year, research showed that combining dry needling with usual physiotherapy delivers a one-two punch for relief. Patients experience significant improvements in disability, neck range of motion, and even depression (Alattar et al., 2024).

Day 4: A Winning Play for Overhead Athletes

Overhead athletes struggling with myofascial shoulder pain? This year, research confirmed what many of us have seen: dry needling provides rapid, short-term pain relief (Demeco et al., 2024). Add it to your playbook for faster return-to-play!

Day 5: Tennis Elbow? Ace It With a Combo!

A robust study revealed that adding dry needling and thrust manipulation to a multimodal program for lateral elbow tendinopathy leads to significantly better pain, disability, and function outcomes (Dunning et al., 2024). Time to up your tennis elbow game!

Day 6: Headache Relief, Head to Toe

Are work-related chronic tension-type headaches getting you down? Consider dry needling to target the levator scapulae muscle and its distal enthesis. A recent case report suggests it could be a valuable adjunct for lasting relief (Gagnon et al., 2024).

Day 7: Home Run for Lateral Epicondylopathy

Another win for lateral epicondylalgia! A case series showed significant pain reduction and functional improvement by combining a specific dry-needling protocol with targeted exercises (Hortz & Falsone, 2024). Empower your patients with this dual approach!

Day 8: Posterior Neck: Needling with Confidence

Needling around the posterior neck can feel intimidating, but this year, research gave us a gift: clear anatomical landmarks to guide safe practice (Tang et al., 2024). Use those palpable bones to enhance accuracy and minimize risk!

Day 9: Dry Needling: A Headache Hero

A meta-analysis confirmed that dry needling reduces headache intensity and frequency across various types (Kandeel et al., 2024). This research strengthens our case for using DN for comprehensive headache management.

Day 10: Recovery Boost for Combat Athletes

We are looking for the winning combo to enhance recovery in combat sports. This year, we learned that combining compression contrast therapy and dry needling outperforms either alone for improving muscle tension and perfusion after forearm fatigue (Kużdżał et al., 2024).

Day 11: Volleyball Victories: Timing is Everything

Want to help your volleyball players jump higher? Dry needling to the triceps surae can boost vertical jump performance, but there is a catch: improvements peak one week post-treatment (Ladriñán-Maestro et al., 2024). Plan those sessions strategically!

Day 12: Rectus Abdominis: Proceed With Caution

Dry needling the rectus abdominis? Tread carefully! A cadaveric study found a 30% risk of peritoneal penetration, even with experienced practitioners (McConnell et al., 2024). Ultrasound guidance is strongly recommended for this area!

Bonus Day: Quality of Life: The Bigger Picture

Dry needling is not just about physical improvements—it can significantly improve the quality of life in athletes with myofascial pain syndrome (Pavlović et al., 2024). Let us treat the whole person, not just the symptoms!

Conclusion

As the last lines of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” fade and the holiday lights dim, let us carry these scholarly gifts forward. The New Year is a time for new beginnings, and what better way to get started than to resolve to become more skilled, informed, and compassionate practitioners?

Let’s face it: managing pain and restoring function is a blessing. We augment those gifts by staying current on the evidence in dry needling, offering relief, hope, and improved quality of life to the individuals we serve. That is certainly a reason to rejoice this holiday season and beyond! If you are a practitioner who wants to expand your dry needling skills, you can find courses near you; enroll in an open course today at www.structureandfunction.net.