Anyone tried Dry Needling or Acupuncture for Pain or Neuropathy?

Yeah, that seems to be the downside of PT...not addressing the structures that support the neck, which are in the upper and mid back. Stretching often feels good but it can further irritate inflamed nerves. Strengthening the upper and mid back muscles and gentle movement helps a lot. A lot of PTs also order chin tucks which can make things worse.

Interesting. Tx

@debkl & @mikaylar According to my magical PT, chin tucks are an "advanced exercise", and definitely not for everyone. Certainly cervical impingements are helped, others can get worse. Near the end of my ongoing pain management PT last year, we tried them a couple of times, and it quickly became evident that the degenerated discs and bone spurs in my neck would not get be improved by them... The other thing I learned was that certain stretches helped if done each day, others worked best if only done 3x per week.

Finally, I learned to pay attention to the "other 23 hours" - posture, activity and inactivity the rest of the day. I move constantly and repeat range of motion movements many times an hour.

What exercises or movements did you find that help your pain?
Sue

I went yesterday for my first dry needling. Today l felt a little off.
Tinnitis louder and neck feeling still. I guess it takes awhile to work.

Sorry I don't have any personal experience with dry needling but I would like to know more about it as well. I've heard it's good for chronic tendonitis which is what I'm suffering from. I'm doing platelet rich plasma injections called PRP and I've done quite a few stem cell injections as well. The stem cell injections are where they take adipose tissue either from your pelvic bone or just straight from fat tissue and harvest the stem cells in it and inject them back into you. They can then create new cells or tissue. They call it regenerative medicine. It's a costly procedure and not covered by insurance unfortunately.

Thanks for sharing. Interested to know how it works for you. Maybe next on the list of procedures for me. By the way, what is DDD?

Degenerative Disc Disease

I find dry needling effective. The next day can be uncomfortable. but that passes. i have it done weekly. I am 91, X-rays show a lot of spinal trauma and bones spurs in neck.

Moving constantly works for me.

@jetsetter I ran across your post and I am a spine surgery patient. What caught my attention in your message was that changing the position of your head and neck is causing pain. I recognize this as a possible spine issue. I had symptoms like this before I found out that I had cervical stenosis and spinal cord compression because of a ruptured C5/C6 disc with bone spurs. I could turn my head and cause a pain in my ankle like a dog was biting me, then when I straightened my neck, the pain stopped. It was reproducible and I could turn it on and off in the beginning. What happens when you bend your neck is that the spinal cord moves inside the canal as it floats in fluid. Imagine a rope inside of a garden hose and you bend it and the rope adjusts its position. If you are side bending, it can compress spaces between the vertebrae where the spinal nerves exit, and if there is already compression there from arthritis or if a disc has gotten smaller, it can irritate the nerve. Spine issues also generate muscle spasms in the neck and head, and I had spasms that were independently rotating my vertebrae which does cause cervicogenic headaches or pain up the back or side of my head when muscles get stretched because of a forceful contraction of the opposing muscle. Muscles work in opposition to each other to control movement, so a spasm can beat up its partner that is trying to help. Gabapentin is prescribed to mask pain, so weaning off of it can expose an issue that you were not aware of before.

I was pretty nervous the first time I saw a spine surgeon. I know that can be worrisome and it was for me. As time went on, and my symptoms increased, I got to where I needed spine surgery and it changed my life for the better. I was on a path to disability and needed surgical intervention. Physical therapy can help too and buy time by realigning the spine and strengthening so hopefully it can remain in a good position.

Have you thought about consulting a spine specialist?