Difference between dry needling and acupuncture?

If you've seen a physiotherapist, you might’ve undergone needling with the promise it will reduce your pain. Did you receive dry needling or acupuncture? How can you tell the difference between the two? Norman and Tegan poke through the evidence to find out how effective these techniques can be. References: Similarities between Ashi acupoints and myofascial trigger points: Exploring the relationship between body surface treatment points  Dry Needling versus Acupuncture: The Ongoing Debate Acupuncture: Past, Present, and Future  Clinical Effectiveness of Dry Needling in Patients with Musculoskeletal Pain—An Umbrella Review  Methodological challenges in design and conduct of randomised controlled trials in acupuncture  Needling Point Location Used in Sham Acupuncture for Chronic Nonspecific Low Back Pain: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis Comparison of dry needling and trigger point manual therapy in patients with neck and upper back myofascial pain syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis Acupuncture for Chronic Pain: Individual Patient Data Meta-analysis Acupuncture for musculoskeletal pain: A meta-analysis and meta-regression of sham-controlled randomized clinical trials Magic tricks are helping scientists understand the placebo effect and pain - ABC News If you enjoyed this episode, check these out! Can you zap yourself buff with electrical muscle stimulation? Are office jobs ruining our bodies? Is gluten really the enemy?

An episode of the What's That Rash? podcast, hosted by Australian Broadcasting Corporation, titled "Difference between dry needling and acupuncture?" was published on November 4, 2025 and runs 21 minutes.

November 4, 2025 ·21m · What's That Rash?

Summary

If you've seen a physiotherapist, you might’ve undergone needling with the promise it will reduce your pain. Did you receive dry needling or acupuncture? How can you tell the difference between the two? Norman and Tegan poke through the evidence to find out how effective these techniques can be. References: Similarities between Ashi acupoints and myofascial trigger points: Exploring the relationship between body surface treatment points  Dry Needling versus Acupuncture: The Ongoing Debate Acupuncture: Past, Present, and Future  Clinical Effectiveness of Dry Needling in Patients with Musculoskeletal Pain—An Umbrella Review  Methodological challenges in design and conduct of randomised controlled trials in acupuncture  Needling Point Location Used in Sham Acupuncture for Chronic Nonspecific Low Back Pain: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis Comparison of dry needling and trigger point manual therapy in patients with neck and upper back myofascial pain syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis Acupuncture for Chronic Pain: Individual Patient Data Meta-analysis Acupuncture for musculoskeletal pain: A meta-analysis and meta-regression of sham-controlled randomized clinical trials Magic tricks are helping scientists understand the placebo effect and pain - ABC News If you enjoyed this episode, check these out! Can you zap yourself buff with electrical muscle stimulation? Are office jobs ruining our bodies? Is gluten really the enemy?

Episode Description