What's the difference between dry needling and acupuncture?

Both techniques use thin filament needles, but the frameworks behind them are completely different.

Acupuncture is rooted in traditional Chinese medicine. Needles are placed along meridians — energy pathways — to influence the flow of qi and rebalance the body.

Dry needling is a modern Western technique performed by chiropractors and physical therapists. Needles are placed directly into hyperirritable muscle trigger points — the palpable knots that radiate pain — to elicit a local twitch response that resets muscle tone and releases tension. The framework is neuromuscular and anatomical, not energetic.

In practice: dry needling targets a specific muscle that's misbehaving and is usually paired with manual therapy and corrective movement work in the same session. Acupuncture is usually a stand-alone treatment within a TCM framework.