Dry Needling Improves Homeostasis & Sarcomere Production Secondary to Exercise

The sarcomere is the smallest contractile unit of skeletal muscle. That we know of. To build muscles we must create new sarcomeres to add onto existing sarcomeres in series and in parallel. It takes about 8 weeks of sufficient exercise, 3 times a week, to begin building new sarcomeres. That’s 24 visits. The average number of PT visits health insurance approved in 2024 was about 20, for the entire year, not per condition. It is scientifically impossible to build new muscle in 20 workout sessions. This is why physical therapists should avoid spending time watching people exercise. Our time and knowledge are better spent helping the patient accomplish things they cannot accomplish on their own.

Did you know a third protein works along with actin and myosin in the sarcomere? Learn about the Titin protein here: https://intricateartseminars.com/titin-the-titan-of-proteins-and-why-almost-zero-doctors-know-it-exists/

As Physical Therapists, we should spend as much time as needed educating patients about exercise and how to do it, because it is 100% necessary if you want to be healthy. However, building muscle is something that can only be accomplished if the patient is willing to put in the effort on their own to consistently exercise. We should be spending the majority of our time eliminating tissue pathology and targeting the parasympathetic portion of the autonomic nervous system. This should be done with the express intent of inducing as much sympathetic depression and parasympathetic elevation as possible. The direction the autonomic nervous system needs to be pushed to reestablish homeostasis and health.

Dry Needling Improves Cerebral Blood Perfusion & Neuronal Function

This is an awesome article reviewing a bunch of studies looking at the effect head and face needling has on cerebral blood flow, neuronal function, and patient outcomes.

Jin G-Y, Jin LL, Jin BX, Zheng J, He BJ and Li S-J (2023) Neural control of cerebral blood flow: scientific basis of scalp acupuncture in treating brain diseases. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnins.2023.1210537/full

The results indicate the primary mechanism by which face and head needling works is through Brain alteration. Increased blood perfusion, decreased inflammation, and improved neuronal function were seen throughout numerous studies. improved brain function improves sarcomere production secondary to exercise by optimizing the cellular environment for growth. This is the reason I always target the parasympathetic-dominant regions of the body with my first needles, then move on to treat whatever else. These regions include the sacral plexus, pelvic floor, upper cervical, vagus nerve in the ear, Otic ganglion of the trigeminal nerve, suture lines of the skull. This immediately pushes the autonomic nervous system in the direction we want it to go, toward parasympathetic dominance, which is the overall result of needling almost regardless how you do it, in general. Targeting the parasympathetics first limits the amplitude and duration of the initial sympathetic spike elicited from being poked with sharp objects, which has been shown to last about 15 minutes on average in the studies looking into this.

I want to push my patient’s autonomic nervous system as far in the parasympathetic direction as possible, as fast as possible, for about an hour, or so. The longer the needles are left in place, to a point, with the parasympathetics dominant, the more effective treatment is. The longer the brain has to respond to a stimulus, if said stimulus just so happens to induce homeostasis, we can use it to free the brain and body of the inhibition clocking access to our innate healing capabilities.

I see miraculous improvements and complete recovery from impairments other typical treatments fail to change, sometimes for decades. The trick is treating the autonomic nervous system, rather than the specific impairment. If you are treating the nervous system itself, you will always be led to the area of primary complaint, as pain and loss of function are major factors disrupting homeostasis. This helps practitioners keep in mind that in order to maximize autonomic homeostasis, we need to target the parasympathetic dominant regions, while at the same time removing as much tissue pathology from the rest of the body as possible. Pathologic tissue stimulates sympathetics. Stimulating Parasympathetics reciprocally inhibits sympathetics. Why not both push and pull the autonomic nervous system towards homeostasis?

I regard needling as a brain treatment. A path to restore our innate superpowers. We are just using the soft tissues and nerves throughout the body as access points to affect various locations in the brain. The needle is a significant-enough amount of direct tissue stimulation to induce incredible homeostatic and neuroplastic alterations in the brain. The speed of complete recovery from unusual, random, “idiopathic” neurologic impairments I have observed consistently over my ten-year career never ceases to amaze me. Particularly with people who are not in good shape, do not eat well, do not supplement, and do not exercise. Nevertheless, thoughtfully performed needling leads the autonomic nervous system back from the abyss, into a realm where it can once again effectively self-regulate and maintain homeostasis.

Having a proper amount of healthy skeletal muscle is key to improving healthspan and lifespan. If your goal is to build muscle to improve health, you are going to be seriously inhibited from doing so by a baseline lack of oxygen in your tissues secondary to chronic autonomic dysregulation, which per the CDC, affects about 90% of Americans. You will have to work harder than you should to achieve results, with a higher likelihood of pain and injury. This is a major barrier to consistent exercise for a lot of patients. Thoughtful dry needling dramatically improves autonomic nervous system homeostasis, reduces pain, and improves the likelihood people will consistently exercise.

Dry Needling Courses

In-Person Dry Needling Courses: https://intricateartseminars.com/course/dry-needling/

Online Dry Needling Courses: https://intricateartseminars.com/course/dry-needling-online-ceu-courses/

Learn more: Read about how dry needling works here: https://intricateartseminars.com/how-does-dry-needling-work/

Video: Dry Needling to Improve Autonomic Nervous System Homeostasis & Health https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjlFd5PLAaY&t=1s

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References

• Citation: Dong, H.; Tsai, S.-Y. Mitochondrial Properties in Skeletal Muscle Fiber. Cells 2023, 12, 2183. https://doi.org/10.3390/cells12172183

• Downey C, Kelly M, Quinlan JF. Changing trends in the mortality rate at 1-year post hip fracture – a systematic review. World J Orthop 2019; 10(3): 166-175 URL: https://www.wjgnet.com/2218-5836/full/v10/i3/166.htm DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.5312/wjo.v10.i3.166

• J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2006 Sep 1. Published in final edited form as: J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2006 Jun;61(6):534–540. doi: 10.1093/gerona/61.6.534

• https://www.nature.com/articles/s41422-018-0078-7