Dry Needling for Knee Pain in a Trapeze Artist
Chronic Tendonitis in the Quadraceps and Patellar Tendons
Here is dry needling directly into the Quadriceps and Patellar tendons in a circus artist with a chronic tendonitis that recently flared up. I have also released trigger and motor points in the Quadriceps and muscles adjacent to the patellar tendon.
Use Dry Needling to Reduce Inflammation the Cause of the Pain
The goal of dry needling here is to promote healing by reducing the inflammation from a relatively minor, non-operable tear. Obviously her knee gets no rest during training and performing, but now she heads home for a 2 weeks rest.
Trigger Points, Motor Points, and The “Eyes of the Knee”
In addition to dry needling directly into the inflamed tendons, I also dry needled the “eyes” of the knee, medial and lateral to the patellar tendon, an old acupuncture trick that we use when treating arthritic and other types of knee pain. She does not have arthritis, but could easily end up with it, and we also do this for tendonitis.
Additional trigger points needled were in the peroneus longus, tibialis anterior, and the vastus lateralus. The vastus motor point was used because she feels all of her pain center, and right of center. She had strong releases of the trigger points, and excellent movement in her motor points.
What are motor points and why needle them?
We dry needle into motor points because it releases the muscles that are not responding to the nerve impulse from your motor nerve. Now your muscles can again fire properly. Your muscle was “locked tight” and is not “unlocked”. I have seen this many times with body builders and serious athletes who come in with painful tight backs and shoulders. This recent case, was of a serious cricketer from India who recently added pickle ball.
I often, if the patient is interested, add electrical stimulation which further encourages the firing of the muscle. One can also use a muscle stimulator at home for the same purpose.
Fasciculation: The muscle “jumps” when the Motor Point releases
What I mean is that I could feel the muscle “jump”. That jumping is called fasciculation. Fasciculation is when the muscle and fascia return to their normal length. This is like releasing the tendon on a rope. Now the tendon moves more freely, and the blood circulates better, which reduces the inflammation that causes the pain
