Dry Needling and the Root Cause of Pain: Performance PT With Nathan LeMaster
With Nathan LeMaster, PT, DPT, SCS, CSCS, founder of EmpowerU - Sioux Falls, SD · Omaha, NE · Austin, TX
The side of your pain is rarely the source of your problem. Knee pain is often a hip problem. Back pain is often a thoracic problem. That is why the same pain keeps crawling back week after week. A clinician who only treats the painful spot is treating the symptom, not the cause.
The Whole IdeaDry needling is not acupuncture. It is a Western-medicine technique that targets a single muscle, finds its trigger point, elicits a twitch response that resets the muscle, then uses electrical stim to re-educate the contraction pattern, restore blood flow, and intentionally fatigue the muscle so the manual therapy that follows can move joints that were locked.
Dry Needling, ExplainedPerformance PT starts where pain ends. About 90 percent of clients come in for a complaint. Within seven to ten sessions, pain is usually under control. That is the floor, not the ceiling. The performance phase raises the baseline so the body can do things it has not been able to do in years.
Pain-Free Is the FloorCash-pay is not more expensive for most people. Insurance was designed for catastrophes and has been stretched to cover everything else, with deductibles, copays, and rushed, fifteen-minute visits. A full hour with a doctorate-level clinician at EmpowerU is usually cheaper than the insurance rate for someone who has not met their deductible.
The Cash-Pay RealityYour body is brilliant at finding the most efficient position for whatever you ask of it, and then it sits there. The trigger point is what is left when a posture or movement pattern gets repeated for months. The fix is not stretching harder. The fix is resetting the muscle, then teaching the joints to move again.
Your Body Is CompensatingMoveU, EmpowerU's sister brand at 57th and Louise in Sioux Falls, serves kids with sensory processing challenges, speech needs, occupational therapy, and pediatric PT. Most kids labeled "naughty" or "anxious" are not bad. They simply do not yet understand what their bodies are telling them. That is treatable.
Kids Aren't NaughtyWhat is dry needling and how does it actually work?
Dry needling is a Western-medicine technique that originated in Colorado. A very fine filament needle is placed into a dysfunctional muscle, specifically into a trigger point, which is best understood as a tangled-up section of the muscle. The needle elicits a twitch response, a fast involuntary contraction that signals the muscle has reset. A stim unit is then attached to the needle to repeatedly contract and relax the muscle, which brings new blood flow, re-educates the contraction pattern, and intentionally fatigues the muscle so the manual therapy that follows can move the joints more easily.
How is dry needling different from acupuncture?
Acupuncture is Eastern-based medicine that works along meridian lines and addresses the flow of qi. Dry needling is Western-based and exclusively targets the muscle the needle enters. The dry needler knows the precise anatomy and kinematics of that muscle and is changing how it contracts, not the energy of the body. Different philosophies, different goals, same delivery tool.
What is a trigger point?
A trigger point is a knotted, balled-up section of a dysfunctional muscle. It forms when the body holds a posture or movement pattern repeatedly, like sitting hunched at an un-elevated laptop all day. The body is brilliant at finding the most efficient position for whatever you ask of it, then it locks that compensating pattern in. The trigger point is the tight, tender spot that compensation creates. Dropping a needle into it forces the muscle to release, which is the twitch response.
Why does the same pain keep coming back even after PT?
Because the side of the pain is rarely the source of the problem. Knee pain is often a hip problem. Back pain is often a thoracic problem. If a clinician only treats the painful spot, the underlying compensation pattern is still in place and the pain crawls right back. The fix is a full-body screen, like SFMA, that identifies the upstream and downstream dysfunctions driving the symptom, then treats the cause instead of the symptom.
What is performance physical therapy?
Performance PT is not just for athletes and not just for the elderly. It is PT for everyone, framed around the idea that getting out of pain is the floor, not the ceiling. About 90 percent of people who walk into EmpowerU come in for pain. Once that pain is resolved (usually within seven to ten sessions), the performance side begins: raising the baseline so the body can do things it has not been able to do in years. The goal is to leave clients feeling a couple of years younger, not just back to neutral.
Why is EmpowerU cash-pay instead of running through insurance?
Because insurance was designed for catastrophes and has been stretched to cover everything else, which created deductibles, copays, and short, cookie-cutter visits. In traditional PT, clinicians often see a client for fifteen or twenty minutes and then hand them off to an aide. At EmpowerU, a doctorate-level clinician runs the full hour, every session. For most clients who have not met their deductible, the cash-pay rate is substantially cheaper than the insurance rate, and the care is more concentrated. South Dakota is also a direct-access state, so no physician referral is needed.
Who is dry needling for, and who is it not for?
Most people benefit from dry needling: tight muscles, headaches, low back pain, TMJ issues, hands and jaws that work hard, athletes, and high-complexity cases that have not responded to other care. About eighty percent of EmpowerU clients get dry needling at some point in their care. It is not required. People who are afraid of needles or who do not buy into the education around it can get excellent results from manual therapy and therapeutic exercise alone. Dry needling is a tool that enhances care, not a prerequisite for care.
How long does a typical course of PT take at EmpowerU?
Most clients are seen once a week. Within sessions one through three, most people feel some level of result. By sessions seven through ten, pain is usually under control or gone. At that point the performance phase begins, focused on raising the baseline so the underlying compensation does not bring the pain back six months later. Acute injuries, like an athlete who tweaked their back in CrossFit, can require two to three sessions in a single week. Plans of care are individualized rather than cookie-cutter.
How do I find EmpowerU?
EmpowerU has locations in Sioux Falls, SD; Omaha, NE; and Austin, TX. The main website is theempoweru.com. The team responds quickly to inbound messages, and South Dakota residents can self-refer with no physician note required. The sister brand MoveU (themoveu.com) is at 57th and Louise in Sioux Falls and serves kids with sensory processing challenges, speech therapy, occupational therapy, and pediatric PT under the same roof and the same client-first philosophy.
Dry needling is only for athletes.
If the pain is gone, you are healed.
If it doesn't hurt, it isn't working.
Dry needling is just acupuncture with a different name.
Most people who have been through traditional physical therapy have a familiar story. They feel better for a week. Then the same pain crawls back. In this episode, host Melissa Goodwin sits down with Nathan LeMaster, PT, DPT, SCS, CSCS, the founder of EmpowerU with locations in Sioux Falls, Omaha, and Austin. Nathan walks through what is actually happening underneath that pattern, and why his clinic walked away from the insurance-driven model that creates it.
The conversation covers what dry needling actually is and is not, the science of trigger points and the twitch response, how stim re-educates a muscle after a needle has reset it, and why knee pain is so often a hip problem. Nathan is direct about who dry needling helps (most people), who it does not (anyone who cannot get past the needle itself), and how the SFMA full-body screen is used to identify the root cause when three or four other providers have not found it.
EmpowerU runs a cash-pay model with doctorate-level clinicians on every visit, full one-hour sessions, and a sister brand (MoveU) that serves kids with sensory processing challenges, speech needs, occupational therapy, and pediatric PT. Nathan explains why cash-pay is usually cheaper than insurance for clients who have not met their deductible, and why South Dakota's direct-access law means no physician referral is needed to start.
If you want to start with the EmpowerU team, visit EmpowerU on the Dialed In Health directory for locations, contact info, and the sister brand MoveU (sensory OT, speech, and pediatric PT). Nathan and the team respond quickly because momentum matters when someone is finally ready to address the source of their pain instead of the side of it.
Read the Full Transcript
MELISSA What kinds of people are a great fit for EmpowerU?
NATHAN Honestly, those that just want to improve, improve where their life is at, they want to feel a couple years younger, they want to accomplish goals that they haven't been able to accomplish in a long period of time, or they've gone to other healthcare providers, and they've kind of struck out and they're not feeling as good as what they think that they should.
MELISSA Health and wellness is confusing. There's a new trend every week. Everyone's got an opinion, and half the time, you can't tell what's legit and what's just good marketing. And we get it. We're in it too. Welcome to Dialed In Health. I'm Melissa Goodwin. Every episode, we bring in the people who actually do this work, providers, practitioners, the experts who see clients and patients every day. We ask the questions you'd ask if you were sitting across from them so you can find the right people, make better decisions, and feel confident about what's out there, whether it's peptides, gut health, water quality, ADHD, biohacking, or something you've never heard of, we're covering it. So let's get into it. Let's get Dialed In.
MELISSA All right, you're in for a good one today. If you've ever finished a round of physical therapy, maybe felt better for a week and watched the same pain crawl right back, this one is for you. Here is what no one is telling you. The site of your pain is rarely the source of your problem. Knee pain is often a hip problem. Back pain is often a thoracic problem. That's why it keeps coming back. So today you're going to learn what dry needling actually is and how it differs from acupuncture, what the twitch response really means and why your pain returns and what to do about it. And what a real performance PT session looks like when a doctorate-level clinician runs the whole hour. So I'm excited to have our guest here, Nathan LeMaster, PT, DPT, SCS, CSCS. I don't know what all those letters mean, but you're going to tell us here in a second, I'm sure. You're the founder of EmpowerU. You have a couple of businesses, with clinics in Sioux Falls, Omaha, Austin. You walked away from all of those traditional insurance visits and now you've built something different. So tell us a little bit about, well, first of all, welcome to the show.
NATHAN Thank you. I appreciate you having me on today.
MELISSA Absolutely. Tell us a little bit about what you've built here. This is a gorgeous building.
NATHAN Yeah. So we want it to be different. We are always able and willing to lean into the different side of things and just knowing what is truly client-centered care. And for the longest time, it has been more insurance-centered care and we wanted to take that to the next level. And we wanted to make sure that when somebody comes in, they are heard, they're seen, and we're making sure that we're not just treating the superficial of what they're feeling, but getting to the root of their issue and then being able to take them on that journey of going from pain to pain-free, pain-free to performance.
MELISSA So you do something called performance physical therapy. What does that mean exactly to someone who's never heard of that term?
NATHAN So a lot of times when people hear the term physical therapy, they start to think post-op, they start to think total knee, they start to think somebody that they had or geriatrics that had a stroke or a fall or working on balance. So the performance side of PT is trying to give a little bit of a spin that makes everybody feel okay with it. So it's not just for old people. It's not just for really young people. PT is for everybody. And so the performance side of things is where we are addressing the fact that 90% of individuals that are coming to us have pain that they're dealing with. So we want to get them out of pain. That's why people are searching for us. But the performance side is what starts when your pain ends. So once your pain ends, then it's time to say, okay, your baseline is what got you injured, hurt or not feeling well to begin with. So let's, after we figure out your pain and where it's at, let's level that up so you can feel a couple years younger and start to do things that you only thought you could accomplish five, 10, 20 years ago.
MELISSA Like I'm in for starting to feel a couple years younger. I'm in for that. I'm curious. So you were in the traditional PT space for quite a while. What kind of rubbed you the wrong way? Why did you walk away from that traditional method?
NATHAN Honestly, it was one of those things where individuals coming in, it was a very reoccurring conversation where it was like, hey, I'm here because my insurance says that I need to be here. I need to be here in order to get the surgery, to get the injection, to do x, y or z. But the research has actually shown that if people come in with the belief that they're only there to take up sessions in order to be seen on the next level of healthcare, then what we're going to do is probably not going to work because they're not bought into it. They're not going to do the home exercises or anything from there. So being able to create something that we have today where it's truly an hour session, we really emphasize the direct access, we're able to make it truly client-centered care.
MELISSA In some ways, the people that come to you, they are invested, because one, they're investing in themselves, but they're also invested in the homework, if you will.
NATHAN Absolutely, absolutely.
MELISSA So you do something called dry needling. I'm really curious, for those that have never heard of this before, what is dry needling?
NATHAN So dry needling actually originated out of Colorado. So it was a very fine-tip needle. They actually started with different injections into muscles. But then during this process, they noticed that individuals were getting results prior to the medication being able to take grasp of whatever was going on. So then they went from medication injections to saline injections, they were still seeing the same results. And then so then they took away being able to inject something, thus dry needling, because you can't inject anything through it with a very fine-tip needle, and that fine-tip needle is able to find these areas and to change the muscle and how it performs.
MELISSA So when do you need it? How do you know if you might need dry needling? What might be some symptoms that I would say like, oh, I should probably call Nate?
NATHAN To an extent, the majority of people can actually benefit from dry needling. So if you have tight muscles, aches, pains that have been going on for a long period of time, but the beauty of dry needling is it's excellent at resetting muscle groups. So the needle is, we find one of those tight tender spots, we call them trigger points. So then you are able to drop a needle into this area, then you get what's called a twitch response. The twitch response makes the muscle jump. And then at that point, that's when you know you've reset the muscle per se. At that point, once you reset the muscle, then we have a stem unit that we can hook up to it, which re-educates the muscle itself. So the stem unit will start to make the muscle contract and relax over and over again. And so this has a couple different benefits to it. It's going to bring new blood flow back to the muscle itself, it's going to teach the muscle on a neuro-reeducation component on how to contract and relax at its full length. And then to take that a step further, it's also making the muscle really tired. So we tend to start our sessions with dry needling when appropriate, and then following that and especially utilizing the fatigue and the science behind it, then we follow it up with manual therapy, which is some of our hands-on tricks that we have.
MELISSA Quick break, this episode is brought to you by Vitality Growth Labs. If you're a health or wellness practice and you're wondering why your phone isn't ringing the way it should be, Vitality Growth Labs builds the systems to fix that. Get found, build trust, fill your calendar. AI authority stacking, videos that connect with your clients, real tools, strategy, and execution that results in real revenue. Visit VitalityGrowthLabs.com or check the provider directory at VitalityGrowthLabs.com slash the directory to find a trusted wellness provider near you. All right, back to the show.
MELISSA Okay, so you said a lot of things really fast. And I think I got, so tell me, when you use a dry needle, it's creating a twitch response in your muscle. And you need that because why?
NATHAN So that tells you that portion of the muscle that is dysfunctional is getting reset. And that's typically your trigger point. So the trigger point, the best way to think of this is like a tangled-up muscle, the needle hits it, and then it forces it to let go. Okay. And that quick let go, that's typically the twitch response that you're getting.
MELISSA And then you do some stem and the stem does what? Now your muscles let go. Why do you do the stem?
NATHAN Yep. So the stem is the reeducation of the muscle. That is where a lot of the research is going towards, of stimulating these muscles in order to have that neuro reed, the blood flow increasing to that and the fatigue that follows. So we typically will do anywhere from two to six needles per client, just pending the area and what they have going on, post-education and making sure that this is part of the root of the issue that's going on.
MELISSA So how long does that last? If I've had dry needling done, how long is my muscle relaxed for?
NATHAN So it's going to be like a soreness period of about 24 to 36 hours. It feels sore, kind of feels bruised at the time. The stem has actually shown to reduce some of that soreness. So we have clients that aren't sore at all, but for the most part, generally speaking 24 to 36 hours. And it's just like any other tool. Dry needling alone, you might have relief for four or five days up to two weeks, and you might feel really good. But when the tool is utilized with our other abilities, such as the manual therapy, the exercises, much like the gym that we're in right now, where we can perform some of those exercises in order to correct these, that's where you start to have longer-standing results.
MELISSA Okay, so I come in, I do some dry needling, I get the twitch response, then you do the stem and then you do the actual workout or you do the actual rehab?
NATHAN Then we most likely afterwards will follow up with manual therapy. So the dry needling itself is taking care of the muscular system. So that is the reset there. From there, the muscles are attached to the bones and the bones is what we want to move next, because if the muscles are tight, that means that we're not getting a lot of joint play of the surrounding muscles up or below that. So then we'll use our hands-on stuff and the benefit of the muscle being fatigued so it can't really fight us that much in order to go through and start to make the entire skeletal system start to play nice. And when these two systems start to play a little bit nicer together, the body's more willing to learn something new to get out of that pain state.
MELISSA That makes sense. So how does this feel? Have you ever had it done on yourself?
NATHAN Oh, I have it done on myself all the time. I'm kind of crazy in the sense where I'll dry needle my own jaw, my own hips and my own hands and everything. Okay, yes. So TMJ-type issues, tightness of the jaw, really good for headaches. I work with my hands a lot during the day. So I always like to dry needle my hands. It is a roundabout term, but it's definitely something that is a good reset point. It does make me feel better. So I actively do it myself on a pretty regular basis. A lot of our clients, I'd probably say 80 to 85% of our clientele that come through EmpowerU will get dry needling at any point in time. It's not something that we have to do with every client, but it is something that enhances the benefit of what we do.
MELISSA So how does it feel? You've done it yourself. Does it feel good? Does it feel bad? Does it hurt?
NATHAN When the needle is going in at first, that initial twitch response, it feels sore. And soreness is safe, right? It is part of the issue that's going on and untangling that muscle. Once the stem gets going for a little bit, because the client is always in charge as far as like, hey, we're going to turn up the stem, you tell me when it's enough for you, as high as you can tolerate, but still have a good conversation with myself. So you're able to turn it up to a tolerable level with them. And then it starts to feel a lot of pulsing and a lot of shaking just with the muscles contracting and relaxing, because the skill of dry needling is not just dropping the needle in, because the stem of the needle actually goes only to the tip of the needle. So you need to be very educated on where the tip of the needle is at and what muscle group that you're in in order to get that contraction. So then over time, it actually gets even more and more comfortable. Your body builds up more tolerance to it. You have less of the trigger points that are going on. And then at times it gets really rhythmical. I've had people that will have immediate sense of relief. I've had clients that will fall asleep on needles because it's so relaxing to them. But everybody's a little bit different.
MELISSA Okay. So what if you don't like needles? If you're someone who's like, I'm not into that, what do you do for those folks? Or do you have any of those folks?
NATHAN Oh, yeah, there's folks like that that come in all the time. And that's one of the things, dry needling is a tool, it can help us enhance their treatments and get them their results a little bit quicker. But yeah, if somebody's afraid of needles or skeptical about it, and even going through the education process, they're still not bought in, that's okay. We have plenty of other skills with our team. Our team is highly trained in manual therapy, therapeutic exercise, and they're all passionate about what they do.
MELISSA So how is this different than acupuncture?
NATHAN So acupuncture is a lot more Eastern-based medicine. So as I kind of alluded to, this is Western-based in Colorado and everything from there, where acupuncture, they a lot of times are chasing meridian lines, or trying to change the chi within the body, where when I am dry needling, I am going only after the muscle that I am dropping the needle into.
MELISSA You leave the chi to somebody else?
NATHAN Yes, leave the chi to somebody else.
MELISSA Okay. So tell me, what is a trigger point? And what does that mean? We talked about twitch response, what's the trigger point?
NATHAN So that trigger point is where that muscle is balled up. So that is a dysfunctional muscle. Let's say that you're working at your desk all day, your body is absolutely brilliant. So it is going to find your money-making position as soon as possible. And then it's actually going to sit with that. So if you're at your laptop, and let's say you're at a laptop that's not elevated, your upper traps are going to be hanging out here all day. So instead of every single day, your body's saying, hey, I need to shorten this muscle because Melissa is telling me so, then it's going to stay in that shortened state. That is what creates this trigger point, this tightness of this area in order to find positions that your body is really familiar with, whether that's stress-induced, work-induced, sport-induced, fitness-induced, any of those types of things. So it creates a compensating pattern to make these easier for you. And so when these needles are finding these spots, that's where you get the quick release. But that's also what makes it nice and sore.
MELISSA What are the most common things that you see people coming in for?
NATHAN Myself, personally, I see a lot of headaches, neck pain, different things like that. I see a lot of low back issues. And then I'm at the stage of my career that I'm seeing a lot of high-complexity cases. So where clients have not seen success at three, four other healthcare providers, they feel like they're running out of options. We tend to be back cleanups. So they'll come in here for a last chance of hope or anything like that. And those typically will be the ones that end up on my schedule. For the rest of our team, everybody has a different avatar. So we have Bailey, he really loves seeing wrestlers and combat athletes. We have Kate, who's literally one of the best running therapists I've ever seen in my life. We have Jake, who does overhead athletes such as golf or pitching or anything from there. So anytime somebody tries to call in, we try to pair them with which professional is the most rehearsed in what they do.
MELISSA Okay, so it's interesting, I've seen a few PTs and, you know, my mom's had a few knee surgeries throughout our family, we've seen a number of them. And there's such a wide range of results and, you know, interactions and it's such a crazy kind of profession from my view as a consumer because it feels like there's some people who are really attuned to watching how you move. And then there's some that kind of follow a program.
NATHAN Yep.
MELISSA So I'm curious, what makes a good PT?
NATHAN What makes a good PT honestly is passion and being intrinsically motivated. And that's where I am extremely proud of the team that we've hired here at EmpowerU, whether it's EmpowerU Sioux Falls, Omaha, Austin, Texas, they're all killers, they want to make sure that you are getting the best experience when you come in, top to bottom, but also chasing the results because, being honest with you, we don't always know 100% the issue that is going on the second that they're in for their initial evaluation. But once you start to rid of some of these low-hanging fruit and getting a few things out of the way, we will figure it out. And you know what, we are also humble enough to know that if it's not in our category, we've referred out, we've been able to diagnose ACL tears, meniscus tears, spinal issues, which were red flags, and we need to send those on and we have a good referral network that we can send that out to.
MELISSA So I'm curious, you know, if somebody comes in, if they've tried PT, chiro, massage, their pain still keeps coming back, how do you tease out what the root cause might be?
NATHAN So we go through what's called SFMA. So we break down the body from top to bottom, and we start to look for different compensating patterns of one side that is going to be abnormal to the other side. So after bringing them through this screen, then we'll dial in a little bit more each round and saying, okay, after we bring you through the screen, I'm going to watch you walk away. Let's say we're talking about a hip or a knee, and we're now starting to observe with modifying their gait pattern on what are the compensating patterns. Then we'll take them back to the room, we'll bring them through some passive range of motion, meaning I will move the joint for them. And seeing if, okay, is this more skeletal? Is this more muscular? Is this more neuro? And then we'll start to dive a little bit into the hands-on stuff where now we're starting to feel the tissue. Is it abnormal on one side as opposed to the other side? And then that's how we're able to start to dial into, yes, this might be your pain is a symptom of what's going on, but the cause might be elsewhere.
MELISSA Okay. So if you find this symptom, you know, how long does a typical person keep coming in to get the therapy that they might need?
NATHAN Yeah, so we highly individualize. So whatever is going on, we've had acute-based injuries, somebody that was doing CrossFit, and they hurt their back really bad. And we've seen them two to three times within a week. Traditional therapy will kind of cookie-cutter and say two times a week for the next six to eight weeks. Most of the time for our clients, we will see the majority of our clients one time per week, and making sure that they're doing their home exercise in order to progress. And I would probably say, you will see some former results within sessions one through three, then the progression going through, we are pretty close to saying sessions seven through 10, your pain is very under control and or gone. And then at that point, that's where our performance sessions start.
MELISSA Let's talk a little bit about your business model. And so when people come in, it's a cash-pay system, right? Tell us, what do people typically, you know, what are some of the hurdles that they have to walk through when you're navigating, like, you're one of the first in Sioux Falls to offer a cash-pay performance therapy?
NATHAN Yeah, so a lot of times when it comes to cash pay, everybody hears cash pay. And they're like, whoa, I have insurance, I have a really good insurance. And most of the time, they don't always understand when and why they need to utilize their insurance. Insurance was originally designed for catastrophes, something really bad when they kicks in. Over time, it's been snowballed into everything else going on. So then that's where deductibles have come in and co-pays have come in. And most of the time, if you have not met your deductible on the year, on what you had to meet for your max out of pocket, we are substantially cheaper than anywhere else. And so I'd say that's hurdle number one is people understanding or lack thereof of when and why or what to use their insurance for.
MELISSA Okay, so if someone is curious about what does that model look like, when they just call you and kind of talk through what their symptoms might be, and you give them a plan for this is what I would expect it to look like, or how do they get a sense for what that investment might be?
NATHAN So a lot of times we start off with phone calls, seeing how they're doing, what's going on, trying to break down, have some deductive reasoning, give them our thoughts from there, they'll book a session with us, and they'll come in for their initial evaluation. Initial evaluation, we'll bring them through kind of what I alluded to just a little while ago, bring through the screening process evaluation and going from there. At the end of the session, after they get the evaluation, they'll get some treatment within that very first session itself. But then on the back end of that, that is where our therapists will understand the prognosis for the client themselves and saying, hey, you know what, I think this is going to take X amount of sessions based on what's going on. And it's not just point and shoot and hope that they understand that. It's breaking it down and saying, hey, this is how many sessions I think it's going to take to make you pain-free. These are the additional joints that were involved to make sure that this doesn't come back long period of time. And then if all this is good, and you want to keep going, let's run that marathon that you told me that you wanted to run if you were completely pain-free again.
MELISSA Part of why we do this is to help, you know, the audience understand, when do I go to this provider? When do I go to that provider? What kinds of people are a great fit for EmpowerU?
NATHAN Honestly, those that just want to improve, improve where their life is at, they want to feel a couple years younger, they want to accomplish goals that they haven't been able to accomplish in a long period of time, or they've gone to other healthcare providers, and they've kind of struck out and they're not feeling as good as what they think that they should. So those are the ones that we want to partner with in order to say, hey, you know what, you want to feel healthy, we're here for you. And what's really great is South Dakota is actually a direct-access state. So you actually don't have to go and get a doctor's note in order to come see us. You can just pick up the phone, give us a call, shoot us a message online, and we'll take care of the rest.
MELISSA That's awesome. So do you have a story of someone who's come in here? I'm sure you've got a lot of them. But do you have a favorite story that you want to share of someone who came in here, you know, worked with you and your team and is now doing amazing things?
NATHAN Oh, man. Definitely have a few. I would say one of the personal ones that I had, it was a client of mine who was actually, her body was physically hit by a vehicle. She used to work for South Dakota, one of the departments here, and she had gone to about five or six other providers, she was getting MRI after MRI, she was getting injection, she had tried PT, chiro, massage, everything in between. And her goal was at first she just wanted to be able to play with her boys, just being able to be an optimal mother. And it's been an amazing progression from that moment where she came in, she just wanted to be part of that and with her boys. And then over time, she's understanding like that was the low-hanging fruit, like that is the standard, that is your right to be able to live, is to have that ability to be with your family and enjoy that and not always be thinking about your pain. And as that pain has gotten more and more under control, her goals have gotten bigger and bigger, where she has started getting back to the gym, and she's now at the gym two to three times per week. And then now she set a bar for saying, hey, you know what, I want to run a 5k. She was able to complete a 5k. And then now we're starting to progress that to kind of that next level. And she has just been a really cool success story and somebody that put in the effort from where she was at to where she is now.
MELISSA You also mentioned before we started rolling the cameras that you do some work with kids too. So tell us a little bit about that side of your business.
NATHAN Yeah, so we have a second brand, it's called MoveU. It's over on 57th and Louise-ish area. So they deal with a lot of like sensory processing challenges and kids. So we, the brand originated around that with Kristin, who's our director over there. Absolutely brilliant. She is one of six in the world with the credentials that she has, and she found a niche and she found that niche with kiddos that were being told that they were naughty, the kiddos that were acting out or parents that were just like having anxiety about bringing their kids out because they didn't know how they would act. But most of the time, this isn't because your kid is bad. Most of the time, this is genuinely because your child doesn't understand what's going on with their body, and they help them understand that. And so as that brand has continued to progress, we have since added speech therapy with Carrie, we have added in PT with Paige, and then we have a second OT over there with Kylie. So they're definitely the fun, more emotional brand of what's going on. You come into EmpowerU, you can feel your results within a single session. Over at MoveU, you start to feel that lifestyle change over a couple weeks, whether your kid has those emotional-type issues, whether they are having any physical pain or walking issues, even like constipation-type issues. So these are all things that they handle over at MoveU.
MELISSA All right, so that sounds amazing. I have a few statements I'm going to read, you can tell me if it's true or false. It's kind of our myth-buster section here. Okay, so dry needling is only for athletes.
NATHAN False.
MELISSA Okay. If the pain is gone, you are healed.
NATHAN False. Why? So I hesitate there because when I allude to your baseline, so we can reduce your symptoms and have the tissue feeling really good and different things like that. But if the underlying factor doesn't change, the reason that left you with that pain is just going to come back in three months, six months, one year, two years. And it just depends how long that goes in between. But if you stick around post your pain-free, that's when the performance side of things starts. And that's also where you can start to live your better life.
MELISSA If it doesn't hurt, it isn't working. False. Say more.
NATHAN So if it doesn't hurt, it isn't working. So the thing is, not everything has to be painful. Like sometimes your body is already at a heightened cortisol level, it is already in a high-stress level. So the last thing that I want to do is have you come in here and feel like you have to have pain in order to feel like you're gaining something. Sometimes we have to have relaxing sessions. Sometimes we have to incorporate the breathing, the parasympathetic system, and truly reset before we can start making progress in other areas.
MELISSA Last one, dry needling is just acupuncture with a different name. False. Okay, say why. Why is that false?
NATHAN The Eastern versus Western-based medicine. What they do is wildly different. It's got an understanding well outside of my realm. But in terms of dry needling, I know the muscle that I'm changing. I know the kinematics of the body. I know what those muscles are meant to do, the length of strength and everything in between. And that is what we're chasing with dry needling specifically.
MELISSA If you had a billboard that you could put in the middle of Sioux Falls, just tell people, give them a message. What would that message be?
NATHAN You can be empowered for more. Just where you're at right now doesn't always mean that this is as good as it can get. And everybody uses "I'm getting older" as an excuse versus not taking care of themselves and just saying that this is a part of life, but it doesn't have to be.
MELISSA So if someone wants to find you, where do they find you? Do you have a website, socials? Tell us where they find you.
NATHAN Yep. So we have a Facebook page. We have an Instagram page. We have Instagram pages for our South Dakota account, Sioux Falls accounts, Nebraska, Omaha, and then Austin, Texas. So we have those different categories. We have our own website at theempoweru.com. And you can find us pretty much on any of those. I'm also on LinkedIn myself, if you ever want to connect, a business owner that you just want to chat.
MELISSA That's amazing. All right. Well, thank you so much for being on the show today. We'll put all of those links in the show notes. So if you're watching on YouTube, hit the description and you can connect with Nate at any of their locations. And also MoveU, is that a separate website?
NATHAN Yep. Themoveu.com.
MELISSA Themoveu.com. There you go. Well, thank you so much for being on our show. I appreciate what you do and what you're sharing here with everyone in here in Sioux Falls and across all your locations.
NATHAN Yeah, thank you for having me and really appreciate it.
MELISSA All right. Thank you.
MELISSA Hey, that's our show. If someone came to mind while you were listening to this, if you thought, "Hey, my sister needs to hear this," or, "I should send this to my mom," or, "My buddy would get a lot out of this," please share it with them. Just hit the share button and send it their way. You never know what one conversation, one episode, or one piece of information can do for someone who's been looking for answers. If you haven't subscribed yet, please do it now. It takes two seconds. It's free and it means you won't miss an episode. We've got incredible stuff coming up and I don't want you to miss any of it. If you're a health or wellness provider and you want to be on the show, we'd love to hear from you. There's a link in the show notes to get in touch. We're always looking for people doing interesting work who want to share what they know. One last thing, I get asked all the time about the products and brands I actually use, so I've put together a list of sponsors and favorite products that have worked for me and my family. If you're curious, that link is in the show notes too. Thank you for being here and I really mean that. I'm Melissa Goodwin. The line is open. See you next time.
