When I say dry needling cannot be performed properly when relying on health insurance for payment, I mean it can’t be used nearly as effectively as it could be otherwise. The patient gets less help out of each treatment. The patient’s health suffers as a result. Why is this?

There is a direct, somewhat linear relationship between the time the needles are left in place and the amount of autonomic nervous system homeostasis achieved as a result. Up to a certain point. At some point in time, there seems to be no improving return on leaving the needles in longer. I find this to be somewhere between 60-90 minutes in most people. This varies quite a bit between patients and sexes. But on average, I try to leave my needles in for around an hour. It just works way better than leaving them in 10 minutes because it achieves significantly more autonomic nervous system homeostasis as an end result. Which is my primary goal of treatment. Because it is the fundamental key to health.

We know some general objective facts about what happens to the autonomic nervous system when people are getting poked with needles, and after the poking is complete. When you are getting stabbed with needles, the sympathetic nervous system spikes. This is clearly obvious to see when patients start sweating, muscle fasciculations appear, it hurts, or a host of other signs all controlled by the sympathetic autonomic nervous system. This is also the cause of vasovagal response, which is a direct reaction to the sympathetic autonomic nervous system elevating too much, too fast, for that individual’s nervous system.

Remember, chronic sympathetic autonomic nervous system hyperactivity is the leading cause of all age-related impairments. It’s also the natural human response to any type of mental or physical stress, strain, pain, or trauma. Basically, anyone that goes into the doctor for whatever reason has a hyperactive sympathetic autonomic nervous system, by default. Except in some extreme outlier instances. So, sympathetic nervous system aggravation is basically a side effect of life. And the longer you’ve been alive, the more pissed off your sympathetic nervous system is likely to be.

After you are finished inserting needles, it takes the patient’s autonomic nervous system about 15-20 minutes to go from a spike in sympathetic activity to parasympathetic dominance compared to where they started before any needling was done. There are not a lot a research papers specifically looking at the specific timing, but 15-20 minutes is what they find. There are thousands of papers showing the overall effect of acupuncture and dry needling is sympathetic depression and parasympathetic elevation. This is the precise direction the autonomic nervous system needs to be nudged to achieve homeostasis. The key to health.

There is something that happens to the autonomic nervous system when the needles are left in place that does not occur when they are used with the pistoning technique, where the needles are poked in and out then immediately removed. The thing that happens to the autonomic nervous system is significantly more homeostasis, which lasts longer. Patients get significantly better when treated with needles using this mindset. Precisely because their autonomic nervous system is more homeostatic than it would be otherwise. Simply because you left the needles in for longer. Something you cannot do under health insurance restrictions.

Most health insurance does not reimburse for dry needling in the first place. You think they want healthier patients? Haha. And even if some health insurance agency does cover dry needling, most insurance-based clinics limit the overall time a therapist has to complete the entire needling process, from getting the supplies and setting up to doing everything, to 15-20 minutes. I don’t care if you have Harry freaking Potter wizard magic, that is not enough time for anyone to achieve optimal patient outcomes from a session of dry needling. When I treat my patients, I want optimal outcomes. And so do they.

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