Orthopedic & Dry Needling

We also offer orthopedic physical therapy and dry needling to help with those aches and pains.

Orthopedic PT

At Merriman Pelvic Health, we treat the whole body. With certifications in manual therapy and training in dry needling, we take a hands-on approach to addressing your pain and will utilize a combination of manual therapy, muscle retraining and targeted exercises to get you feeling better and back to the things you love. Whether it be your hip, neck, shoulder or knee, we’ve got you covered. If you want to avoid excess doctor visits, be seen quickly and get on your way to feeling better, book your eval below.

Common orthopedic impairments treated:

  • Neck pain/ postural dysfunction/ cervical radiculopathy

  • Shoulder pain / impingement/ tendinopathy

  • Thoracic/ lumbar pain/ disc pathology/ myalgia/ core weakness

  • Hip pain/ impingement/ myofascial pain

  • Sacroiliac Joint Dysfunction/piriformis syndrome

  • Knee pain/ patello femoral pain/ ITB friction syndrome

  • Foot/ankle pain/ plantar fasciitis/ tendinopathy

Dry Needling can be incorporated into any orthopedic session if it is deemed appropriate by your physical therapist and requested by the patient.

Dry Needling

This is a technique used by physical therapists to treat trigger points (knots and tight bands in your muscles that can cause pain. A trained physical therapist will identify the trigger point using palpation and then insert a mono-filament needle into the trigger point to elicit a “twitch response.”

  • The trigger point or “knot” occurs because the muscle fibers are held in contraction. Muscle fibers are designed to both contract and relax and if they are held in a contraction, they are not getting good blow flow or oxygen and pain substances build up around the trigger point alerting your brain to dysfunction. When the needle causes the muscle to twitch it contracts and then lets go and the muscle fibers can return to a resting state.

  • Dry needling is a great tool for chronic myofascial pain, meaning knots in muscles that have been around for a while. Dry needling works most effectively when combined with stretching and strengthening to restore normal function of the muscle group. IE; if you have trigger points in your neck and shoulders due to bad posture, if you don't address the posture, the trigger points will come back.

  • It is normal to feel pretty sore for about 2 days following treatment. Some bruising is also normal. I recommend taking that time to rest and stretch and resume exercise/ training after the 48 hour period.

“I'm incredibly grateful for meeting Claire! Facing a herniated disc, her guidance and expertise assured me that I can continue having an active lifestyle without surgery. Claire's knowledge and understanding have given me genuine comfort, and I wholeheartedly recommend her to anyone in a similar situation.”

— ELIZABETH V.