Twice a week I go to physical therapy to receive treatment for my neck and shoulder. I've been doing this for the majority of the past 14 months (I had a 3 month break after a surgical procedure last April). It's become something I really look forward to because it has been a great source of relief for me - especially when it comes to migraines and pain. It's scary sometimes for to think of what I'd do or where I'd be without out.
Typically my sessions start off with me doing exercises by myself for 30 minutes to and hour. The length or amount of reps usually depends on what my pain level is like going into the session. For instance, this week has been a particularly difficult week for me, so my reps and weight resistance has been lower. My primary objectives right now are to strengthen my right rotator cuff and my upper neck, which are currently my worst two spots, but we also do some work on my core strength and my lower neck.
By the time I'm through exercising my pain and migraine are usually around and 8 (out of 10) on the pain scale, which is very significant. It's at this point my physical therapist will do some stretches and soft tissue work on my muscles. This is usually both painful and therapeutic.
The most interesting aspect of my session, though, is dry-needling. This is a technique my "trigger points" - the places in which my pain is essentially coming from. In my case, I have what is called "myofascial pain" which is where certain muscles in your body are constantly triggered in pain. This takes the form of tension and spasms, which for me spread like a fire throughout head, neck, shoulders, arms, and upper back.
In dry-needling, my physical therapist takes a very thin needle and inserts it directly into those trigger points in a method that's intended to ease the tension of those trigger points and retrain those muscles to stop constantly reacting in pain. In my 3 years of dealing with my injury, it's easily been the single most effective form of treatment, but it's still a constant struggle because I have so many trigger points it's hard to deal with all of them at once.
The needles themselves typically aren't painful. Half of the time I don't even feel the insertion, but if they're effective in hitting a trigger spot, then it causes an extremely painful reaction. The craziest thing is that I often get "referred pain" - meaning if my P.T. were to target a spot on my shoulder, I will get excruciating pain in my bicep that runs all the way to my hand.
The needling usually takes an hour or two, and when it's finished I am usually wiped out. I liken the feeling to the way you feel after you've had a surgical procedure where your body feels like it's in shock. Luckily, though, at this stage they let me lie down and rest with some ice packs and a TENS unit. Which is my favorite part!
If you'd like more information on dry-needling, please visit:
https://www.physio-pedia.com/Dry_needling