Presentation and Question :-)

[Agostino]

Hello,
I'm an Italian Physiotherapist and despite I have frequented the best italian university about this field, our health's legislation is quite different than the UK's one.
Unfortunately we can't do injection or prescribe drugs and so I didn't learn to do them during my university's course.

I'm still waiting the conversion of my degree but the first skill I want to learn is the "intra-articular injection" (I'm also specialised in the MSK).... I would like to ask you if I can learn this technique by one of my future colleague or I have to do a "specific course".

I have another question (sorry about that).... do you know the differences between the "agopuncture" course and the "dry-needling" one?


Thanks to everyone.

Agostino


P.S.: sorry for my bad english :-(

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[nicole.jones.physio]

Hi,

I am not sure about steroid injections. Acupuncture and dry needling are different however both involve inserting a needle through the skin. Acupuncture is where you insert a needle into specific points to achieve 'de chi.' This creates a physiological response within the body and can involve chemical/hormonal changes and regulation. I trained with Jennie Longbottom who was extremely good and a great teacher. Her book can be found on amazon (acupuncture in manual therapy) and courses can be found ¶¶ ALIED Acupuncture Training Courses with Jennie Longbottom

Dry needling is different and involves needling directly into the muscle into a 'trigger point.' This results in local physiological effects and can also be very beneficial. The dry needling course is shorter however with acupuncture you can achieve supraspinal and segmental effects of using a needle and I find this is hugely beneficial in clinic, particularly for providing pain relief.

My case study for the use and effects of acupuncture can be viewed here. This may just help to give you an idea of the difference as I mention both.

Hope this helps

[Agostino]

Hi Nicole,
Than you for your answer, I'll read your Case Study certainly.

I have a "scientific mind" so your phrase "you insert a needle into specific points to achieve 'de chi." makes me perplexed. Regardless of my own personal thought and belief about the "energy and chi", I would like to ask you if there are some strong clinical scientific evidences about the relief of pain and/or decreased muscle stiffness or something else similar???

I mean, why should I have to choose the "acupuncture course" instead the Dry needling one? There are some "physiological points" that help me to relief the pain better?
Does Dry needling relief just the "muscular pain" or treat only the muscular problems?


Thank you for you further explanation.

[nicole.jones.physio]

Hi Agostino,

Thank you for your comments. I understand your concerns because I also did not believe in acupuncture until I had been on the course. I felt I needed it because I was in private practice and thats what people want! However I now use it daily in conjunction with other therapies. A pubmed search will give you lots of evidence particularly on the release of serotonin, oxytocin and encephalin within the brain and how this effects mood and pain. Different points affect the body in different ways and I would point you towards the work of Jennie Longbottom as this book helps simplify the evidence and provides a 'western approach' (ie evidence based). In answer to your question about points and their influence on pain each work differently and you can utilise local, segmental and supraspinal benefits. Check out

Yin Yang House | Acupuncture and Alternative Medicine Information Resource and this gives you an overview if you type in the point to pubmed and acupuncture this will allow you to see which evidence supports each point. Most of the work has been done on large intestine 4 and liver 3 (the four gates) so this may be a good place to start.

The M-level foundation acupuncture course is the equivalent of 30 M points ( that can be put towards a masters degree) and helped improve my anatomy knowledge, palpation skills and clinical reasoning. It also included dry needling which I believe can be completed as a separate course in 1-2 days.

Thanks

[Agostino]

Thank you so much for your availability. Just I'll receive my HCPC registration, I'm going to decide which course to do.

Kind Regards

Agositno