Dry Needling For Achilles Tendinopathy / Tendonitis — Does It Help?

Dry needling for Achilles tendonitis can be good for relieving the symptoms - especially when these include tight calf muscles - but it's not a silver bullet that will get rid of your Achilles problem. Sports physio Alison Gould takes a look at what science says about dry needling for Achilles tendonitis and explains what else needs to be done for your tendon to heal properly.

📽️Related videos you may find useful:

📚Chapters in this video:
00:00:00 Introduction
00:00:45 What is dry needling?
00:02:42 What are trigger points?
00:03:40 Why might dry needling help?
00:05:44 What the research shows
00:08:05 Dry needling Achilles tendonitis
00:10:57 Pros and cons

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References:

Nuhmani, S., Khan, M.H., Ahsan, M., Abualait, T.S. and Muaidi, Q., 2023. Dry needling in the management of tendinopathy: A systematic review of randomized control trials. Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, 33, pp.128-135.

Solomons, L., Lee, J.J., Bruce, M., White, L.D. and Scott, A., 2020. Intramuscular stimulation vs sham needling for the treatment of chronic midportion Achilles tendinopathy: a randomized controlled clinical trial. PLoS One, 15(9), p.e0238579.

Trybulski, R., Stanula, A., Żebrowska, A., Podleśny, M. and Hall, B., 2024. Acute Effects of the Dry Needling Session on Gastrocnemius Muscle Biomechanical Properties, and Perfusion with Latent Trigger Points-A Single-Blind Randomized Controlled Trial in Mixed Martial Arts Athletes. Journal of Sports Science & Medicine, 23(1), p.136.

Rathbone, Alasdair TL, Liza Grosman-Rimon, and Dinesh A. Kumbhare. "Interrater agreement of manual palpation for identification of myofascial trigger points: a systematic review and meta-analysis." The Clinical Journal of Pain 33.8 (2017): 715-729.

[CharliZoos]

Hello. I’ve recently been diagnosed with ‘severe’ Achilles tendonopathy by my GP she said that she could give me a dry needle however it could rupture my Achilles completely. Is that at all true

[mikethegamer]

Hey, sorry, I keep bothering you guys. I have an appointment with a physiotherapy "sportsdoctor in two weeks" but one other question popped up please If you may answer. So my bursitis on my heel doesn't hurt as it did 3 months ago I did take NSAIDS on and off for the first 2 months but had stopped because the fear of slow healing with my injuries scared me. I had switch to ice water buckets and isolating the injury for 20 min then waiting 5min and then active range of motion to stimulate blood flow. My question is, should one take NASAID if their bursa is not as inflamed anymore but hurts everyone once in a while? Or should one stop after some time to let the body do its job even when it's tolerable pain? I can walk now with barely any limp. Lastly, yes i have watched a lot of the videos you have on the channel, including the one on bursitis. Please and thankyou