What Is Dry Needling / IMS?
Dry Needling uses thin, solid filiform needles inserted into selected muscle and myofascial tissues; no medication is injected. IMS (Intramuscular Stimulation) is a related dry-needling approach used to address painful, sensitive, or tight muscle areas. Treatment can involve superficial or deeper needling depending on the muscle, clinical findings, and treatment goal.
Research suggests possible short-term pain relief in selected musculoskeletal presentations, but findings vary by diagnosis, comparison treatment and protocol. Dry needling can be considered alongside exercise and progressive rehabilitation, with its added value reviewed against pain and function.
Benefits of Dry Needling / IMS
Potential benefits within an individual rehabilitation plan.
Reduces Muscle-Related Pain
Helps reduce pain and sensitivity associated with selected myofascial and musculoskeletal conditions.
Reduces Muscle Tightness
Targets sensitive and taut muscle areas to improve comfort during movement.
Improves Movement
Reduced pain and muscle sensitivity can support better mobility and functional movement.
Complements Active Rehabilitation
Works alongside therapeutic exercise, manual therapy, and movement retraining as part of a complete physiotherapy program.
Who Can Benefit?
Dry Needling / IMS is commonly used within rehabilitation for selected patients with:
- Myofascial pain and trigger-point related pain
- Neck and shoulder muscle pain
- Lower-back and hip muscular pain
- Tennis elbow and forearm muscle pain
- Sports-related muscle tightness and overload
- Persistent muscle pain with restricted movement
Who It's For
This service suits some people and not others. It is worth a call if you recognise yourself here.
- Long-standing neck pain linked to muscle trigger points, with stiffness and tender bands.
- Low back pain where the muscles around the spine hold tender, tight bands.
- Shoulder pain of muscular origin that did not start with an injury, where a small short-term reduction in pain is the realistic goal.
- Tennis elbow and other overuse pain at the elbow, including grip-related pain.
- Pain around the knee cap in runners, gym-goers and cricketers.
- People who have already tried rest and general physiotherapy and still have a stubborn, tender spot in the muscle.
- Any age. There is no age limit on dry needling here. Whether it suits you is decided at the assessment, not by your age.
Assessment Before Any Needle
Tell the physiotherapist about your medical conditions, your medicines and any allergies, including pregnancy, blood thinners, a pacemaker, a joint replacement, diabetes or epilepsy.
What You Will Feel
This is not a painless treatment: most people feel a dull ache or a brief cramp, and some feel pain during or after. Say so at any point and the physiotherapist will stop or change what is being done.
The Needling Itself
If dry needling with stimulation is used, a low-level electrical current is passed through the needle. Needle depth and angle are chosen carefully around the chest, upper back, shoulder and neck, because a needle placed near the ribcage can reach the lung lining.
Single-use needles. A needle is used once and is never reused.
Aftercare
Bruising, a small amount of bleeding at the needle site and soreness for a day or two are the common after-effects. Drowsiness is less common, and if you feel drowsy, do not drive immediately. If you get chest pain or tightness, breathlessness, or unusual fatigue in the hours or days after needling around the chest, upper back, shoulder or neck, seek medical attention and mention the treatment.
Your Next Step Towards Better Movement
If muscle pain or tightness is affecting your movement, exercise, or daily activities, book an assessment at Trivayu Physio Center, Jaipur to discover how Dry Needling / IMS can support your personalized rehabilitation.
Release Tension. Restore Movement. Return Stronger.
See It in the Physiotherapy Clinic
Filmed at our centre in Vaishali Nagar, so you can see what the session actually looks like before you book.
FAQs
What is the difference between dry needling and acupuncture?
Dry needling and acupuncture use similar thin needles, but the reasoning and the training behind them differ. Dry needling targets a tight, tender band of muscle located by physical examination, and it is taught to physiotherapists as an added technique built on anatomy and movement assessment. Acupuncture comes from Traditional Chinese Medicine and works from meridians and points mapped by that system, through a separate training pathway. Nothing is injected in either.
Is dry needling painful?
Most people describe the needle as a dull ache or a brief cramp rather than a sharp sting, and when it reaches the tight band the muscle often gives a quick involuntary twitch. It is not a painless treatment. In a 2014 prospective survey by Brady and colleagues covering 7,629 dry needling treatments, physiotherapists logged a mild after-effect in about 19% of treatments, most often bruising, with pain during treatment in about 3%. Say so if it becomes too much.
Who should not get dry needling?
Dry needling is not suitable for everyone, and most reasons are cautions rather than outright bars, so the physiotherapist who assesses you decides. Tell them if you have a bleeding disorder, take blood-thinning medicine, are pregnant or may be, have a joint replacement or metal implant near the painful area, or have diabetes, epilepsy, a metal allergy, a weakened immune system, broken or infected skin, or a history of fainting. With a pacemaker, plain needling may still be possible, but the version with electrical stimulation is not used.
Are there any side effects of dry needling?
Yes. The common ones are mild: bruising, a small amount of bleeding at the needle site, and soreness for a day or two. Drowsiness happens less often, and if you feel drowsy you should not drive straight away. Serious complications are rare but not impossible: a prospective survey of 20,464 treatment sessions (Boyce and colleagues, 2020) recorded major adverse events at below 0.1%. After needling near the chest, upper back, shoulder or neck, chest pain, breathlessness or unusual fatigue needs medical attention.
Does dry needling actually work?
Dry needling may help reduce musculoskeletal pain in the short term, and the evidence is graded low to moderate rather than conclusive. Reviews report pain reduction in neck pain in the short term, a small short-term reduction in shoulder pain that is not from an injury, pain reduction in low back pain right after a course of treatment, and pain reduction in tennis elbow within the first week. Evidence of long-term benefit is currently lacking.
Does dry needling with electrical stimulation work?
Two individual trials reported that adding electrical stimulation to exercise and manual therapy improved pain and function at three months, one in heel pain in 2018 and one in tennis elbow in 2024, both multicentre randomised trials led by Dunning. It has been studied less than plain dry needling, so the evidence base is smaller. It is not used if you have a pacemaker or another implanted electrical device.
How long do dry needling results last?
Any improvement should be treated as short-term. The pooled evidence covers the window from immediately after a session to around 12 weeks, and reviews state that evidence of long-term benefit is currently lacking. That is one reason needling is used alongside exercise and manual therapy, since adding needling to a wider physiotherapy programme performed better than that programme alone in pooled neck pain trials. How long it holds differs from one person to the next.
Can I do dry needling at home?
No. Dry needling should only be done by a trained physiotherapist who has assessed you, because needle depth and angle matter, particularly near the chest, upper back, shoulder and neck, where a badly placed needle can reach the lung lining. Home visits are a separate service: Trivayu Physio Center offers physiotherapy home visits across Jaipur, booked on +91 90570 65065.
Where can I get dry needling in Jaipur?
Trivayu Physio Center offers dry needling and dry needling with stimulation at 204, 2nd Floor, Om Tower, Gandhi Path Road, Nemi Nagar, Vaishali Nagar, Jaipur 302021. Hours are Monday to Saturday, 8:00am to 8:00pm, and Sunday, 10:00am to 1:00pm. Call or WhatsApp +91 90570 65065 to book an assessment, or email contact@trivayu.co.in. Sessions can be conducted in Hindi, English or Rajasthani.
ड्राई नीडलिंग क्या होता है?
ड्राई नीडलिंग में फिजियोथेरेपिस्ट एक बहुत पतली सुई त्वचा के रास्ते मांसपेशी की सख्त, दर्द वाली गांठ तक पहुँचाते हैं, जिसे ट्रिगर पॉइंट कहते हैं। सुई में कोई दवा नहीं होती और कुछ इंजेक्ट नहीं किया जाता, इसीलिए इसे ड्राई कहते हैं। यह अकेला इलाज नहीं, बल्कि व्यायाम और मैनुअल थेरेपी वाली फिजियोथेरेपी योजना का हिस्सा है। असर कुछ समय के लिए हो सकता है और हर व्यक्ति पर अलग होता है। यह सुविधा जयपुर के वैशाली नगर में उपलब्ध है।
Further reading
- APTA/JOSPT: Low-back pain clinical practice guideline
- Dry needling added to neck-pain rehabilitation: randomised trial
- NHS: Needling suitability and risks
This page is educational and does not replace a proper assessment. Outcomes vary by individual; Trivayu Physio Center makes no guarantee of specific results.
Patient information published by Trivayu Physio Center.