Pelvic Floor Dry Needling: What is it + Who can do it?
Pelvic floor dry needling is the best way to fix the vast majority of pelvic floor impairments. Whether you have pain with sex, tailbone pain, any type of incontinence, or some other pelvic floor issue, dry needling is the fastest, safest, and most lasting treatment there is. If performed thoughtfully, a lot of the time, you don’t even have to expose your genitalia to fix your issues, and it only takes a handful of treatments.
Sooo…. You want to stick a needle into my pelvic floor, you say? Ummmmmm…. Yes, this is a normal response to this proposition. If you don’t have some doubt about someone asking to stick a needle down there, you may need more help than I can provide. Ha, ha. Listen: The closer you get to the genitalia, the less you feel the needles. I am not kidding. The pelvic floor is one of the most comfortable areas of the body to be needled. It is totally counterintuitive, but trust me, it’s true.
Note: The needles I use in the pelvic floor are 0.2 mm thick. That is exponentially smaller than the majority of regular, hollow needles used for injections. A lot of regular syringes are over 1 mm thick or more!
How Pelvic Floor muscles can lead to impairments
We have 9 pelvic floor muscles, and I call them the “Forgotten Nine." Proper function of these muscles is intricately dependent on the position and functionality of the rest of our pelvic muscles, and any abnormality anywhere in the pelvis can lead to pelvic floor impairments.
The most common muscle impairment human beings have is tightness, or loss of length. This holds true for all muscles. Muscles don’t work well when they are short. They are not as strong, they don’t fire in the correct patterns, they fire slowly and ineffectively, and they just don’t work well at all when they are short.
Dry needling is the fastest way to normalize length and function of the pelvic floor musculature. While regulating muscle length, dry needling also regulates the autonomic nervous system (ANS). If the ANS is out of whack, absolutely nothing in our body works properly, including things like our bladder.
Who can dry needle the pelvic floor?
Dry needling is now allowed in 45 states for PTs, excluding NY, CA, OR, WA, and HI. Anyone notice anything similar about those states? Aside from the fact that, apparently, they want to have large percentages of their populations suffering from pelvic health issues? Hmmm….. All states have specific rules and regulations governing what certain medical professions can do. In general, the only people you will find who manually and directly treat the pelvic floor are physical therapists.
Note: If you are being treated for any type of physical therapy impairment, including pelvic floor impairments, and your therapist does not put their hands on you to manually treat your muscles, find someone who does. You are wasting your time.
Are there courses for pelvic floor dry needling?
Yes, there are a few companies in the United States that teach pelvic floor dry needling. Intricate Art Spine & Body Solutions, our company, teaches the best and most comprehensive one.
We incorporate needling instruction of all the muscles surrounding the pelvis, including the 9 true pelvic floor muscles. Cervical musculature is also covered, as it is vital to quickly and successfully treat incontinence. We link the importance of simultaneously treating the pelvic floor muscles and the ANS in a fun, relaxing, laid-back setting.
In the end, pelvic health impairments are not normal unless you have some serious underlying pathology, like a spinal cord injury. Dry needling is, by far, the fastest and most effective way to treat all types of pelvic health impairments.
Fixing any of this type of stuff for patients is one of the most positive, fast, and life-altering treatments we provide. You just need the right skills and knowledge, which we can help you with.
If you are a medical professional or someone with a pelvic impairment, let me know if you have any questions about anything. I can help you schedule a class, give advice, or help you find someone we have trained to treat you.
Talk to you soon,
Jason
