Dr. Kessler is a mixed bag. I went to him to treat pain and dysfunction in my hip and thigh following hip replacement surgery. I had been limited to walking about a block before the pain became intolerable. I also had become unable to reach down far enough to tie my shoes. I have two back fractures and can't bend forward and the hip surgery had restricted my range of motion. His dry needling and stretches didn't completely solve these problems but did make it possible for me to walk much farther -- about 3/4 of a mile. I was ecstatic.
Unfortunately, I continued seeing him in the hope of getting further improvement. He then began critiquing the orthopedic shoes I've worn for years which have rigid shanks that protect my left midfoot from reinjuring an old injury. He said I didn't need to wear those shoes and could wear "Hoka" shoes that don't have rigid arch support instead.
I told him I hadn't come to him to treat my feet, which hadn't bothered me ever since I began wearing the orthopedic shoes. I said while it was fine for him to make his suggestion I knew my body and my medical history and didn't want to risk reinjury and asked him to please not talk about my shoes again. But he persisted, even determining that he and I had the same shoe size, and brought in his own Hokas for me to try for a few steps around the office. So I relented and bought a pair and discovered that not surprisingly they caused pain just walking to the corner. But he wouldn't let up and insisted I try orthotics he brought in, so I did and they still caused pain so I put my own orthotics in them, which turned out to be a bad combination that caused a sudden and severe recurrence of my old injury.
I've now had to wear a walking boot to even walk at all and have been to see two foot and ankle doctors who've determined I have a combination of midfoot arthritis (which I had before due to the original injury but which has now become far worse) and plantar fasciitis, which began with the new injury. They want me to be in the boot for at least another four weeks and if that doesn't help I'll most likely need midfoot fusion surgery. Meanwhile, the boot is aggravating my hip pain and causing knee pain.
So while Dr. Kessler's treatment of my hip was helpful, his shoe obsession has dramatically reduced my ability to walk from what it was when I first saw him and has worsened my pain. A quick Google search would have revealed to him that you treat a midfoot injury with rigid arch support and that as my doctors have told me you should avoid walking barefoot, as he kept urging me to do.
Bottom line, if you have a flare-up of what is clearly muscle spasm, it's possible his dry needling and especially his stretches may help, at least temporarily. But he thinks he knows more than he does, believes everything should be treated with those modalities, and is unbelievably stubborn. He has left me in far worse shape than I was when I first went to him, and I keep berating myself for letting him wear me down and talk me into wearing shoes I knew could cause serious problems for me. So my recommendation would be that you should avoid him and find a good physical therapist who is skilled at doing stretching exercises. Kessler's dry needling uses acupuncture needles and is little different from acupuncture, which generally provides only temporary relief. If you think that's what you need, find a good acupuncturist. read more