Expert Physical Therapy in Washington DC

Dry needling is a therapeutic technique where fine needles are inserted into trigger points—tight knots within muscles, tendons, or connective tissue—to relieve pain and restore function. Unlike acupuncture, which follows traditional Chinese medicine principles, dry needling is based on modern Western medicine and targets specific areas of muscle dysfunction.

At Norton PT, we often combine dry needling with electrical stimulation to enhance muscle relaxation, increase blood flow, and accelerate healing. This integrated approach provides faster, more effective relief than dry needling alone.

Most patients experience minimal discomfort during dry needling. You may feel a brief pinch when the needle is inserted, followed by a "twitch response" as the muscle releases tension—this is a sign the treatment is working.

Some soreness is normal after treatment, similar to post-workout muscle fatigue, but it typically resolves within 24-48 hours. Our therapists adjust the technique to your comfort level and ensure you feel safe throughout the session.

Our goal of an initial appointment is to examine any areas causing pain and decreased mobility. Through taking a thorough history and performing a clinical examination, we will identify a diagnosis.


Additionally, we will assess how your body moves through observing and testing functional movements such as running, walking, squatting deadlifting etc. This assists our ability to identify underlying issues such as, restrictions in motion, strength deficits or motor control limitations.


Finally, the session will conclude with a discussion of a treatment plan and demonstration of a home self care program.


If you have more than one area of pain affecting your mobility, for example knee and shoulder pain, then we may need more than an hour to appropriately assess each concern. In this event, we will try to cover as much ground as possible and pick up where we left off during a follow up session.

Yes! Dry needling is highly effective for both acute injuries and chronic pain conditions. Even if you've been dealing with pain for months or years, dry needling conducted by our Physical Therapists can release long-standing trigger points and muscle tension that other treatments haven't resolved. We combine dry needling with movement therapy to address the root cause of your pain and help prevent it from returning.

Dress comfortably – shorts, t-shirt or sports bra, and your preferred running or training shoes. You don't need to bring anything else with you, but please complete our intake forms online before your first appointment as this will give your therapist valuable information about you as well as decrease time spent reviewing your history during your appointment.

Washington, DC has direct access laws meaning you can schedule an appointment with a PT without physician referral.  We can schedule an evaluation appointment as soon as you're ready. However, our therapists are happy to collaborate with any other healthcare professionals you are working with to ensure the best care possible for you.

In order to offer the highest value of care, we are an out of network provider, which means that we do not directly accept insurance. This allows us to provide hour long 1 to 1 treatments, where we can focus on giving you our full time, attention and expertise.

We will gladly provide you with a receipt/invoice/superbill after each session, for you to pursue reimbursement from your health insurance carrier for our services.  Depending on your insurance policy you may receive reimburse for some if not all of your PT services, especially if you have a PPO plan.