What is dry needling? Here's what to know about treatment that caused T.J. Watt's partially collapsed lung.
The Steelers' T.J. Watt suffered a "partially" collapsed lung during a dry needling treatment on Wednesday, his brother J.J. Watt said.
Pittsburgh's star edge rusher had successful surgery to repair and stabilize his lung and was released from the hospital on Friday, according to J.J. Watt. The Steelers have not released any information on the incident since their initial statement on Thursday.
So, what is dry needling? Here's what to know about the treatment that injured T.J. Watt.
What is dry needling?
The treatment uses needles to help relieve pain by trying to release knots and tension in the muscle.
Licensed acupuncturist Jamie Schlier at Nourish and Move in Mt. Lebanon told KDKA on Friday that in acupuncture treatments, the chances of a collapsed lung are very low. But it happened to T.J. Watt during his dry needling appointment.
Dry needling is somewhat adapted from acupuncture, but not "true acupuncture," and it usually focuses on one part of the body, Schlier said.
"We can assume that was probably over the chest or over his upper back, somewhere in the thorax, which is like the chest," she said.
Dry needling explained
KDKA was shown the needles that Schlier said are used for dry needling. They're thin, almost like strands of hair. So, how could something that small have such a big impact?
"I think that if the provider maybe wasn't paying full attention, they could have gone too deep," Schlier said.
Schlier said a normal poke for the average person is about a half-inch. She showed KDKA a demonstration, with the muscle being pulled away from the organs, so that the acupuncturists know they're only needling into the muscles, not the organs.
Schlier said it may take more for someone with more muscle and a bigger frame may have a deeper one, meaning the incision that happened to T.J. Watt must have been very deep.