Dry Needling & Holistic Healing Masterclass: How Does Dry needling Work?
How Does Dry Needling Work?
This is what we teach across the United States with Intricate Art Spine and Body Solutions who are leaders in the innovation of dry needling, joint manipulation, and nutrition as clinical tools in medical settings: Dry needling influences the body on both mechanical and neurological levels. Furthermore, the clinicians at Health Hive believe the most significant tissue changes stem from neurological responses triggered by the needling process.
Here is my elevator pitch for patients mentioned in the last article: Most conditions can be boiled down to a common denominator: a hyperactive sympathetic nervous system. The needles will turn on your parasympathetic nervous system, known as “the rest and digest” system, which will force your sympathetic system to turn off causing increased blood flow, promote tissue healing, and trigger a wave of euphoria and relaxation. The parasympathetics can be visualized like an anti-virus software program that is going to send healing factors throughout the body, and some of the needles are going to act like “help-desk tickets” for where the body needs extra focused healing.
Now to dive into a deeper understanding of how dry needling is working on the body, it is imperative to understand how normal physiological processes are conducted. In other words, to understand what is wrong and how to fix it, you need to know how things are supposed to work and then you will be able to identify problems more easily.
Note: Articles like this are designed for E-Learning purposes, aimed at providing a higher-level understanding of health topics. They are educational in nature and not a substitute for personalized medical advice.
Understanding Skeletal Muscle Contraction & Relaxation
Normal muscle contraction involves several coordinated actions:
Acetylcholine crosses the neuromuscular junction to stimulate depolarization.
Calcium is released from the sarcoplasmic reticulum.
Calcium binds to Troponin C, shifting tropomyosin to expose binding sites for actin-myosin cross-bridges.
For relaxation to occur:
Acetylcholine esterase must clear excess acetylcholine.
Calcium is reabsorbed into the sarcoplasmic reticulum.
Tropomyosin re-covers the actin-binding site, ending the cross-bridge cycle.
Normal resting potential of nerves is around -70 mV, and action potential (signal) occurs around +40 mV. In cases of sympathetic hyperactivity, this range shifts (resting closer to -50 mV and action potential around +30 mV), making it easier to trigger contractions, contributing to spontaneous electrical activity and chronic tension.
Sympathetic Hyperactivity Disrupts Muscle Health
Hyperactive sympathetic states lead to:
Increased acetylcholine
Decreased acetylcholine esterase
Excess intracellular calcium
This disrupts normal muscle function, sustaining unwanted contractions (twitches, tension, knots), tissue hypoxia (suffocating cells), and pain. Over time, the epimysium (outer layer of tissue) becomes chemically sensitive to acetylcholine, contributing to slow, sustained muscle shortening—even without visible contractions on EMG.
Note: Osteoarthritis is now being acknowledged as a dysregulation of the autonomic nervous system. Meaning, that regulation of the ANS is seen as novel therapeutic interventions for addressing the progression of osteoarthritis and chronic pain.
Understanding Neurological Systemic Connections
The Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis (hormone regulation): this complex circuit is a neuroendocrine system that plays a central role in the body’s stress response, an automatic and instinctual process (a.k.a. autonomic), via the release of cortisol. The body’s response to stress (physical or emotional) trigger this axis to initiate a feedback loop:
The sympathetic nervous system signals to the hypothalamus: “release corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH)”
CRH then triggers the anterior pituitary gland to release adrenocorticotrophic releasing hormone (ACTH)
ACTH then triggers the adrenal glands (the cortex) to release cortisol
The Gut-Brain Axis (immune and neurochemical balance): a bidirectional communication system between the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) and the enteric nervous system (the nervous system of the digestive tract).
Vagus Nerve: the 12th cranial nerve, called the “wandering nerve”, is an essential parasympathetic nerve that grows off of the brain, travels down through the neck and spider-webs out throughout the chest, abdomen, and ends in the privates, connecting the majority of viscera (organs) together for a calming, rest and digest, affect. Within the Gut-Brain Axis, the vagus nerve reflexes are triggered in response to chemical concentrations and presence of food. The intrinsic reflexes operate independently within the Enteric Nervous System (ENS), whereas the extrinsic reflexes work between the Enteric and Central Nervous Systems (CNS).
Aside from this one, highly significant nerve, the digestive system has the second largest concentration of nerves outside of the brain, signaling the significance of communication between these two networks — which impacts other body systems including immune system, endocrine system, and the gut microbiota via environment.
Gut Microbiome: a coexisting coalition of non-human organisms that assists with body functions, assist with the production of neurotransmitters and compounds that facilitate communication between the gut and brain chemically through the bloodstream.
Sympathetic Hyperactivity: Neurological Disruption Causing Cascading Issues
SANS hyperactivity condition also disrupts these two major systemic circuits:
A disrupted Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis results in high cortisol levels; which signals to the nervous system a state of stress which triggers a positive loop; where the response amplifies a driving of the system further away from the starting point; in this case, a homeostatic nervous system. Moreover, imbalances in cortisol causes physical manifestations including weight gain, insulin resistance (type 2 diabetes), and other metabolic disorders; whereas dysregulation of this axis causes mental health disorders like depression, anxiety, and other mood disorders.
A disrupted Gut-Brain Axis network directly affects brain activity, gastrointestinal function, mood, behavior, and overall health. These disruptions affect everything from mental health to immunity and systemic inflammation. Regulation for this system is most impacted through nutritional modifications and exercise, however the Health Hive’s approach to dry needling impacts these neurological networks by allowing a reset of the autonomic systems—mostly through vagus nerve regulation.
Dry Needling: Resetting the Nervous System
Dry needling effectively regulates both the central and autonomic nervous systems, helping restore homeostasis. Regardless of technique, needling typically:
Reduced trigger point concentrations, therefore reducing the amount of negative afferent signals from the peripheral nervous system (physical stressors) up toward the brain
Improve localized blood flow attributed to the precise microtraumas caused by the advancement of needles through skeletal tissues
The technique taught by Intricate Art and practiced by Health Hive, however, is unique in that it has added benefits:
Lowers sympathetic activity below baseline
Elevates parasympathetic tone above baseline
Our needling technique highlights the single advancement of a needle followed by a rotation in specific parasympathetic zones—such as craniosacral regions, vagus nerve access points, and pelvic structures. This significantly extends the duration and impact of this parasympathetic dominance.
Studies show that while sympathetic spikes post-needling last around 15 minutes, well-targeted dry needling prolongs parasympathetic activity, supporting deeper recovery.
Treating More Than Just Muscles
Chronic dysfunction is rarely isolated to tissue. Dry needling influences:
Cerebral blood flow
Autonomic rebalancing
Energy distribution
Neuroplasticity
This treatment helps redirect neurological resources back to healing rather than survival. In cases without direct injury, "idiopathic" impairments often stem from ANS energy depletion and misalignment. By restoring homeostasis, dry needling acts as a neurological reboot, or anti-virus scan on the body.
Why Modern Medicine Falls Short
Despite massive advances, medical science may only understand a fraction of biology’s complexity. Protein Titin, crucial to muscle dynamics, was not widely discussed in clinical education until decades after its discovery.
Aside from lifesaving trauma surgery advancements, most therapeutic treatments today mask symptoms rather than address root causes—partly due to systemic incentives within the pharmaceutical industry. More money is to be made through maintenance and sickness than real “cures". True medicine treats the individual, targeting root causes while alleviating symptoms as a byproduct.
The Role of Energy Deficiency in Chronic Disease
When sympathetic overdrive exceeds an individual’s threshold, the nervous system loses self-regulation. Energy production drops and consumption rises, hypoxia increases, and systemic inflammation follows. Organs and tissues become starved of:
ATP: your body’s energy currency, everything that requires energy utilizes ATP.
NADH / NAD+: the byproduct of cellular metabolism.
Oxygen: the essential gas that supports cellular function.
There is a finite amount of energy that the body can utilize each day. If the body is inefficiently producing and utilizing energy, the demand will outweigh the supply causing a deficit that forces the nervous system to reallocate resources to the most important systems for survival. This forced neglect causes the body to suffer and become dysfunctional.
This dysfunction is linked to conditions like:
Cancer
Autoimmune disorders
Chronic pain
Diabetes
Neurological and psychiatric disorders
Dry Needling as a Neurological Intervention
Health Hive views dry needling not just as a soft-tissue intervention, but as neurological medicine. The needle is our tool to access and influence the brain, facilitating powerful neuroplastic and homeostatic changes.
Even in patients with poor lifestyle habits or limited systemic health, dry needling can trigger remarkable improvements in function and quality of life. It helps return the nervous system to a regulated state—an essential prerequisite for any healing process.
Final Thoughts
Dry needling is unique in its ability to treat both the symptom and the cause. By targeting the nervous system directly, we help the body regain its self-healing capacity. I am unaware of any medical condition that would not benefit from enhanced autonomic and central nervous system regulation.
For physical therapists and healthcare professionals, this is the most potent tool we have that patients cannot do independently.
Continue this Masterclass Series, to learn about Dry Needling Normalizes Tissues; Vagus Nerve Stimulation; Dry Needling vs. Acupuncture; Reducing Sympathetic Stimulation; Piston and Pecking vs. Place and Twist.
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