Dry Needling 1 is a foundational dry needling (DN) course designed to give the participant the necessary tools to safely, successfully, and efficiently implement dry needling into their practice with a functional approach to treatment for the lumbar region and lower quarter. This is one of a two part certification series to optimize learning and practice while meeting Indiana’s requirement of 50 hours in approved course training for the participant to begin implementing DN into their treatment “toolbox.”

This course will instruct the clinician on the historical understanding and defining of trigger point DN as an effective strategy for reducing neuromuscular pain contributions to their patients’ impairments. Clinicians will learn when DN is likely to enhance treatment outcomes, how to effectively integrate DN into a comprehensive treatment plan, and why it may or may not be suitable for various population groups. A thorough understanding of expected trigger point referral patterns will be developed while differentiating these from other neuromuscular symptoms and musculoskeletal disease presentations. The attendee will become more confident in their physical assessment and clinical rationale during the development of an effective treatment plan using the evidence and strategies learned in this course

This course will include the dry needling of trigger points but also introduce the concepts of peri-neural needling, tendon needling, and “periosteal pecking” as additional components of musculoskeletal needling practice. Peri-neural dry needling will be instructed primarily for the intent of improving microcirculation and disrupting fibrosis in chronic neurogenic pain syndromes and neural mobility restrictions.