Acupuncture and dry needling use the same tool - a very thin stainless steel needle.
They vary significantly in their approach and methodologies.
Much like how a plumber and a carpenter both use a wrench. But for different intentions.
Or Woodie Guthrie and Jimi Hendrix both play guitar, but sound much different because of their approach and intention.
What this means is that though acupuncure and dry needling are different treatments, they share a strong commonality of the tool.
This makes acupuncture studies and dry needling studies in the literature useful for both disciplines.
Deqi
One of the common discussions throughout the history of acupuncture is deqi.
“Deqi refers to the excitation of qi or vital energy inside meridians by acupuncture needle stimulation. Patients often experience multidimensional and intense needling sensations such as numbness, soreness, distention, heaviness, dull pain, and sharp pain during acupuncture stimulation. Deqi is considered as an important parameter in the process of achieving therapeutic effectiveness in acupuncture treatment”
As I mentioned above, dry needling is not trying to manipulate qi.
But I do often see a therapeutic response when specific areas are dry needled that lead to significant pain releif. These areas usually respond with a sensation of what I would describe as a blend of deep warmth and temporary soreness. Is this because of a vasodilation and improvement in blood flow? A neurogenic reflex?
The semantics don’t matter in this type of thing.
It’s an outcome based treatment anyways. We are trying to improve blood flow, reduce pain, stabilize tissue health, and improve movement.
Research
From this study:
“Many historical and contemporary sources have suggested that Deqi is necessary for attaining the therapeutic effects of acupuncture. A study by Chiang et al [3] showed the correlation between analgesia and Deqi. A series of studies of acupuncture anesthesia and analgesia conducted in the 1950–1980s in China also corroborate the significance of Deqi [16].
More recently, Takeda and Wessel [17] found that Deqi can be used to predict significant improvement in the pain of osteoarthritis.”
They do mention in this study that in the literature deqi and outcomes are mixed.
But in my personal experience I find it to be a worthy outcome.
The point
The point I’m making here (no pun intended), is that here seems to be a correlation of deep soreness and warmth and significant positive outcomes.
I’ve still seen great outcomes without this sensation, but when people do get this experience, I am comforted knowing that they will feel significantly better within 24 hours.
*for years I wrongly referred to this as Durchi