Spring Into Acute Injury Season: Why Now’s the Time to Use Dry Needling With Yardwork-Related Injuries
Spring has sprung, and with it comes an influx of patients who’ve discovered (the hard way) that their bodies aren’t quite as enthusiastic about landscaping as their Pinterest boards are.
As clinicians, we know this seasonal pattern well. The weather warms up, and suddenly the clinic fills with acute injuries from overzealous yardwork: back spasms, shoulder strains, glute cramps, hamstring pulls — you name it.
Luckily, dry needling is one of the best tools we have to get these patients out of pain and back to planting petunias (or at least walking upright).
Acute Injuries: Why Early Intervention Matters
Injury management starts with recognizing the acute phase — those first few days when pain, inflammation, and muscle guarding dominate. These aren’t the chronic desk-job traps or stubborn post-op knees. These are freshly strained paraspinals from moving mulch, tweaked rotator cuffs from overhead hedge trimming, and calves cramping after chasing toddlers barefoot on wet grass.
Here’s what we’re seeing this season (and likely, so are you):
Lumbar strains from poor lifting mechanics (hello, 40-lb bags of fertilizer)
Mid-scapular tension from prolonged raking or hoeing
Gluteal pain after deep squatting to plant bulbs
Neck and upper trap overload from poor ergonomics during weekend DIY projects
This is where dry needling shines — early and often.
How Dry Needling Supports Acute Injury Recovery
Dry needling offers several clinical advantages during the acute phase:
✅ Interrupts the pain-spasm-pain cycle
Targeting hypertonic muscle groups reduces protective spasm and neural upregulation. Needling may actually be better tolerated than other interventions when patients are too guarded to tolerate manual therapy or even gentle exercise. Use good assessment skills and clinical reasoning to determine if the protective guarding is simply overuse or is it protecting something more sinister. If you aren’t sure, target remote regions that can influence the area of pain.
✅ Promotes local circulation and healing
Needling does cause microtrauma in the local tissue. In the acute phase of injury, we want to minimize increases in inflammation. We want to do things that support what the body is built to do right after an injury. Placing needles in regions that will support the normal healing process by increasing blood flow to the tissues: muscles that share peripheral or segmental innervation, or muscles that refer to the region is typically ideal. If you decide to place needles in tissue local to the injury for analgesic effects, don’t piston. Use e-stim.
✅ Facilitates better movement earlier
Patients may not be able to tolerate aggressive mobility work yet. Needling can “clear the road” for better ROM and engagement with active rehab.
✅ Improves buy-in and outcomes
Acute patients who feel fast relief are more likely to stick with their treatment plan and progress through the full continuum of care — not just drop off after the first “I feel better” moment.
Clinical Considerations for Acute Injuries
Using dry needling during the acute phase (first 4-7 days) requires a slightly different mindset:
Dose appropriately: Go easy. If you are treating the involved tissues, remember these tissues are irritated, and overloading them with too many needles or aggressive techniques can backfire. Think precision, not volume. Minimize pistoning. Use e-stim.
Choose your targets wisely: Consider treating regions remote from the strained tissues. Take, for example, the guy with sore knees from repetitive squatting: maybe you treat the L3 multifidus to improve neural input and blood flow to the quads, knees, adductors. Maybe you treat the posterior hip to facilitate better mechanics and take some strain off the knee joints. Or depending on the severity of the injury, you may judiciously choose to target functional muscle groups contributing to pain and protective guarding local to the region of pain.
Integrate movement early: Pair dry needling with gentle mobility work or isometric loading. This is a great time to begin graded exposure to (corrected) movement.
Patient Education: Set Expectations
Acute injury patients often walk in a little panicked (and a little annoyed they didn’t train for that “quick” backyard project). Use the time to explain why they’re hurting, how dry needling fits into the bigger picture, and how it’s not just about short-term pain relief — it’s about restoring normal neuromuscular function and getting them back to meaningful activities.
Bonus: when they feel immediate improvement, you become the MVP of spring.
The Takeaway
Spring is prime time for acute injuries, and dry needling should be in your first-line toolkit. It's safe, efficient, and incredibly effective for helping patients move through the acute phase faster and with better long-term outcomes.
Whether it’s treating that neighbor who overdid it with the leaf blower or the weekend warrior who forgot their hamstrings aren’t what they used to be — dry needling allows you to provide fast, targeted relief and open the door to more effective rehab.
Want to level up your dry needling skills this season?
At Dry Needling Academy, we offer evidence-informed, clinician-focused education that helps you treat with confidence — especially when the treatment room gets crowded with springtime sprains and strains.
Check out our courses to stay sharp, stay current, and stay ready for whatever your patients throw your way — even if it’s just a pulled glute from power-washing the patio.
