What is Gunn IMS/ Dry needling?

You may have heard about Gunn IMS (intra-muscular stimulation) or ‘Dry needling’ before, but you may be wondering what it is and why it’s so useful. This blog post will give you the lowdown on IMS treatment/dry needling treatment.

IMS therapy (can also be referred to as IMS physiotherapy or intramuscular stimulation) is a tool that has changed the way I treat dramatically!

The technique works best for those who have been experiencing chronic tension and pain in various areas of their body and focuses on intramuscular stimulation via IMS to treat chronic issues (muscle tightness, neuropathic pain/pain secondary to nerves being angry, trigger points and knots, and more.

Trigger points or knots form in muscles when there’s dysfunction in the nervous system which causes stress and fatigue.

During an IMS treatment we not only look at the local area of pain, but we also up the chain to the spine, (because that’s where all the nerves in your body originate) and ensure we treat both areas.

I like to think of the neck as the electrical panel for our upper extremity and the low back as the electrical panel for our lower extremity. If the nerves are being compressed as they exit the spine, it can cause dysfunction in the regions of the body they innervate.

For example, if the joints and nerves in the base of your neck are being compressed and impinged it can cause tension and muscle fatigue in the muscles of your forearm and lead to a condition like tennis elbow or golfer’s elbow.

What conditions does Gunn IMS/ Dry needling treat?

When muscles get tight and shortened either along the spine or in the periphery (in your arms/legs/etc.), they impart abnormal tension/pull and hypersensitivity, that can cause joint and nerve compression. This can lead to low back pain, neck pain, sciatica, bursitis (hip, knee, shoulder), tendonitis (knee, ankle, elbow, shoulder), fasciitis and other myofascial dysfunction.  

So how exactly does Gunn IMS / Dry needling work?

An acupuncture needle is inserted into a knot or trigger point and stimulated by moving the needle up and down in a pecking motion in order to get it to release. Many times, it actually induces a little twitch response or mini contraction which is the release of the muscle.

As the muscle fibre is released from its shortened position to its resting length, it decreases the pull and decompresses or offloads the muscles, nerves, joints, and other tissues in the region being treated.

The insertion of the needle also stimulates blood flow to the area to aid in healing and causes an electrical action potential which causes a biochemical change in the muscle. This can really help to make a permanent change in the tone and neural functioning of the muscles and areas treated – think of it as a CTRL-ALT-DELETE for your muscles.

When a needle is inserted into normal healthy tissue, you won’t feel much happening, so if you feel a lot of action happening, it’s safe to say the area needs treatment!

The needles don’t stay in like acupuncture, so you never have more than one needle in at a time. 

How big are the acupuncture needles used?

The needles we use look like tiny pins and are a much smaller gauge then a safety pin! Nothing is injected when we perform Gunn IMS/dry needling, so the needle is significantly smaller then the needles used for vaccines.

Does Gunn IMS / Dry needling hurt?

If I’m being honest, it’s not the most comfortable technique in the world (I, myself get treated with IMS regularly), but it’s more of a weird feeling than anything else. It’s very bizzare to feel the needle make your muscle contract involuntarily and it can be temporarily uncomfortable.

You should expect to be sore in the region that is treated for 1-2 days post treatment, but it often feels like the delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) that you would feel post workout. 

The good news is that as that feeling wears off, you typically get loads of relief of tension and pain in the area.

Subsequent treatments usually feel less painful then the first visit as we continue to offload the affected area with each treatment and there’s less anxiety as you know what to expect.

Plan to take at least 24 hours off of physical activity post treatment, as we want the area to properly recover from treatment and to not be stressed. 

How many sessions do I need to see a difference?

The number of IMS treatments really depends on the chronicity of your injury and the areas of your body that are affected. Some patients will experience fairly immediate relief and others will start to feel improvements within 2-3 sessions. A course of consecutive treatments can range from 3-5 times up to 8-10 times depending on the issue. 

Do I have to try Gunn IMS/ Dry Needling to get better?

Of course not! There are many other treatment techniques we perform to aid in your recovery if needles scare you, but it is a very powerful tool.

What are the risks associated with Gunn IMS/dry needling?

Any time a needle is used there’s a risk of infection. We use sterile one time use acupuncture needles and infection is rare. We can’t always see all of your veins from the surface, so occasionally if a vein is punctured on insertion a small bruise may develop.

There are a lot of nerves that we also cannot see from the surface. If I nerve is punctured on insertion you will feel a stinging, prickling or electrical feeling. If this happens we remove the needle immediately and the lingering sensation should not last long.

When we are needling anywhere close to the chest wall or base of neck, landmarking and our anatomy knowledge is paramount. A pneumothorax (air in the chest cavity) is a risk that can happen, but shouldn’t happen with a skilled and knowledgeable practitioner.

The important thing to note is that all of these risks are not fatal and are readily reversible.

Contraindications to Gunn IMS/dry needling are pregnancy, a high dose of blood thinners, surgery less then 6 months prior and a pace maker. As noted above, you will likely be sore for 1-2 days post treatment but then typically you feel relief as that post treatment soreness wears off.  

As I said at the beginning of this article, from the moment I got my Gunn IMS certification it transformed my practice.

Prior to having it as a tool in my toolbox, I always felt that I could get patients 85-90% better and IMS has improved my treatment results dramatically!

Don’t get me wrong, passive physiotherapy treatment will only ever get you so far, the patient has to be an active participant in their recovery, listening and incorporating the advice of their physiotherapist and doing the corrective exercises given if they want to fully recover and prevent re-injury!

I hope this article was helpful at answering any questions you may have had about Gunn IMS or dry needling.

Here is the Gunn IMS website from the University of British Columbia (UBC) where I trained, if you want to learn more about it or find a practitioner near you.

Hit me up if you have any other questions, or book in to give it a try!

You can book with me at Resilience Physiotherapy by clicking here.