What is pin therapy?
Pin therapy (pinopressure) is a Polish method of soft tissue work, developed by the orthopaedic doctor Radosław Składowski as an extension of Ferdynand Barbasiewicz’s klawiterapia. It uses blunt brass tools:
- pins – for pressure on specific points, e.g. tender spots in a muscle or the area around a tendon attachment,
- kats – for rubbing and friction over a larger area of tissue.
The tools do not pierce the skin. The method’s authors explain its effect by piezoelectric phenomena in the fascia – but this is a hypothesis that research has not confirmed. It is more honest to describe pin therapy as one of a number of soft tissue techniques, related to instrument-assisted soft tissue mobilisation (IASTM) and myofascial massage. Its effect – less pain and tension – is felt individually.
When we use pin therapy
We use pin therapy as an add-on to manual therapy, most often for:
- overload and increased tension in the muscles of the neck, back and buttocks,
- painful spots in muscles that reproduce your familiar pain,
- symptoms around tendon attachments, e.g. with tennis elbow or a heel spur,
- tissue stiffness after overload, when it is hard to deliver a precise stimulus by hand.
We do not treat it as the answer to every problem. With lower back pain or neck pain, assessment, movement and gradual loading remain the foundation – a tool can at most make the first few weeks easier.
What the treatment looks like at Fizjo-Fan
- History and assessment – we establish the source of your symptoms and rule out contraindications.
- Work with the tools – on selected spots, for a few minutes, with an intensity matched to your tolerance. You tell us as we go how the stimulus feels.
- Checking in movement – we repeat the test from the start of the visit to see whether anything has changed.
- Exercise – this consolidates the effect. Without it, the pain relief after treatment usually wears off quickly.
What to expect
The treatment can be painful, and the skin may be red afterwards. Sometimes tiny red spots under the skin (petechiae) or a bruise appear, with tenderness for a day or two. Some people feel clear relief and freer movement after pin therapy, others notice little difference. That is why we do not promise a result – we check it in movement and decide whether to continue.
Contraindications include recent injuries and skin changes at the treatment site, bleeding disorders and anticoagulant medication, thrombosis, cancer in the treated area, fever and, in pregnancy, the abdomen and lower back. If your pain tolerance is low, we will decide together whether the treatment makes sense or whether another technique would be a better choice.
Pin therapy as part of a visit
At Fizjo-Fan pin therapy is one of the techniques available within a physiotherapy visit – like dry needling or kinesiotaping. We do not charge extra for it; whether we use it at all is decided after the assessment. Lasting results come from exercise and medical training – the tool is only an add-on. You can book a visit via the Contact page.