Lenore Herget DPT, SCS, MEd, CSCS
Dr. Herget is a Clinical Specialist within the MGH Sports Medicine Physical Therapy Department, Board Certified in Sports Physical Therapy, Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, Certified Clinical Instructor and Certified Emergency Medical Responder.
She is a member of the New England Patriots Medical Staff and serves as the Concussion Rehabilitation Consultant to the Boston Bruins, Boston Red Sox, New England Revolution, Boston Celtics, Home Base Program and the MGH Sports Concussion Clinic.
She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre and Psychology from Wheaton College in 2000, her Masters in Education degree from SUNY in 2005, her post baccalaureate pre-med certificate from Hunter College in 2006 and her Doctor of Physical Therapy degree from MGH Institute of Health Professions in 2009.
Dr Herget’s practice includes rehabilitating athletes who have sustained a sports related concussion, most specifically evaluating and treating high school through professional level athletes with concussions and assisting in their safe return to play. Her clinical expertise is in the cervicogenic contributions and visuo-vestibular treatment of athletes and military personnel who sustain concussions as well as the progression of exercise through exertional protocols. Her research has focused on management of athletes with post-concussion syndrome and the efficacy of pre-season and post-season visuo-vestibular testing to aid in return to play decision making, differentiating between concussion and cervicogenic symptom presentation, alternative exercise testing protocols, atypical mTBI presentations and considerations in the military population. She has lectured nationally on the topics of concussion and the non-acute management of athletes with post-concussive syndrome.
Additionally, Dr. Herget focuses her orthopaedic practice on the biomechanical assessment and management of lower quarter injuries, specifically hamstring strains, tears, and ruptures with a focus on step wise rehabilitation to return to play and prevention of reinjury; and uses experience from her dry needling certification courses when appropriate. She heads up the conservative rehabilitation branch of Massachusetts General Hospital Sports Medicine Hamstring Center of Excellence which involves the triage and management of patients with acute and chronic hamstring injuries, data collection and development and utilization of a standardized return to sport/function rehabilitation plan.
A little information on Dry Needling!
What is Dry Needling?
Dry Needling (DN) is a skilled intervention performed by a healthcare professional. It involves inserting a tiny monofilament needle, without medication, into the body to stimulate a healing response in the presence of neuromusculoskeletal issues and movement dysfunction. The needles may be inserted into a muscle or muscles in order to release shortened bands of muscles and decrease trigger point activity. Needles may also be inserted around other tissues such as ligaments, tendons and joint capsules to help resolve pain and muscle tension, improve mobility and restore function. Your physical therapist has completed the training to become a Dry Needling practitioner. All training was in accordance with requirements dictated by the U.S. state of this practitioner’s licensure. DN is a valuable and effective treatment for musculoskeletal pain. It is not intended to replace other components of your treatment program. Like any treatment, there are possible complications. While complications are RARE in occurrence, they are real and must be considered prior to giving consent for treatment.
Which situations may benefit from Dry Needling?
Dry Needling may be beneficial to both acute and chronic conditions. Muscle tightness, strains and sprains, an overworked body needing recovery, muscle activation and pain modulation are all clinical indications for the use of dry needling.
How is dry needling different from acupuncture?
Dry Needling is performed by health care practitioners including physical therapists, chiropractors, medical doctors, doctors of osteopathy and more. These health care professionals have spent thousands of hours of formal education in anatomy, physiology, neuroanatomy, pathology and differential diagnosis and have taken additional education to be able to perform dry needling. DN uses a western medicine anatomical model to determine needle placement; as opposed to traditional Chinese Acupuncture, which uses the ancient meridian system rooted in eastern philosophy for needle placement. There is an overlap between the two. The article “Dry Needling vs. Acupuncture: The Ongoing Debate” by Kehua Zhou, discusses many of the differences. If you have further interest, the full free access article can be found: http://aim.bmj.com/content/33/6/485.full
Does dry needling hurt?
For the most part, dry needling is a non-painful or minimally painful technique, depending on the type of dry needling that is being done. Patient comfort along with safety is an emphasis during all treatment sessions.
Lenore Herget DPT, SCS, MEd, CSCS