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Meet Master Dry Needling
Experienced clinicians.
No egos.
We teach dry needling to make you more capable—not to make our instructors look impressive. MDN brings deep clinical experience into a practical, collaborative learning environment where difficult concepts become usable skills.
“Every time I teach, I’m in a room full of smart people. I’m going to learn a lot this weekend.”
Dr. Ken Cooper
Program creator & lead instructor
Decades of experience
Clinically active faculty
Approachable by design
A living curriculum
Continuing education for licensed healthcare professionals
Senior-level PT, AT & DC students welcome where permitted
The MDN difference
We’re here to make you better, not impress you with how good we are.
Too many continuing-education courses leave clinicians amazed by the person at the front of the room but unsure they can reproduce what they saw. Master Dry Needling was built around the opposite outcome: explain it clearly, let you experience it, guide you while you practice it and help you leave believing, “I can actually do this.”
Our instructors bring different specialties and points of view. They teach one another, learn from students and improve the program when someone finds a better way to explain, assess or apply a technique. The curriculum is not protected by ego. It is strengthened by curiosity.
How we teach
Confidence is built—not announced.
MDN turns complex anatomy and clinical reasoning into a guided learning progression.
01
See it clearly.
Understand the anatomy, safety decisions and clinical purpose without unnecessary complexity.
02
Feel the difference.
Experience palpation, positioning and the treatment process from the patient’s perspective.
03
Do it with guidance.
Practice under close supervision while an experienced clinician helps you refine the details.
04
Leave ready to apply it.
Carry a safer, more repeatable process into the next appropriate clinical opportunity.
1981
Ken Cooper begins his physical therapy career and a decades-long pursuit of better answers for myofascial pain.
1990
He establishes private practice and develops a multidisciplinary clinical perspective.
15+ YEARS AGO
Master Dry Needling brings its autonomic-focused approach to the seminar circuit.
TODAY
A collaborative faculty continues to teach, practice, learn and improve the program.
Where the program began
A clinical question became a lifelong pursuit.
Persistent mid-back pain that did not respond to traditional care led Dr. Ken Cooper to study the myofascial work of Dr. Janet Travell and Dr. David Simons. Needle-based training later gave him a direct way to address trigger points, and his study of autonomic approaches expanded the model far beyond a list of muscle insertions.
That clinical evolution became Master Dry Needling: a program built to connect anatomical precision with whole-body assessment, the nervous system and practical decision-making. The foundation remains Ken’s—but the program continues to grow through every instructor who brings specialty knowledge and a better way to teach it.
Meet the faculty
One program. Many specialties.
These are not lecturers reading someone else’s curriculum. They are clinicians and educators whose experience actively shapes what MDN teaches.
Program Creator & Lead Instructor
Dr. Ken Cooper
PT, DC, DAAPM, MDNC
Myofascial care, autonomic-based approaches and clinical integration
Ken created the clinical foundation of Master Dry Needling after decades of pursuing more effective ways to understand and treat myofascial dysfunction.
Read full biography
Dr. Ken Cooper began his clinical career after graduating in Physical Therapy from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Dallas in 1981. He worked as a staff therapist at Methodist Hospital in Lubbock and became a clinical instructor for Texas Tech University Health Science Center physical therapy interns.
After private practice in Lubbock, he attended Parker College of Chiropractic, graduating summa cum laude and valedictorian. He established a private practice in Bedford, Texas in 1990 and later formed a multidisciplinary practice providing medical, chiropractic, physical therapy, massage therapy and dry needling care.
A personal episode of persistent mid-back pain led Ken to the work of Dr. Janet Travell and Dr. David Simons and a career-long study of myofascial syndromes. Chiropractic training allowed him to apply needle-based approaches to trigger points, and later work influenced by Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt expanded that thinking into an autonomic-based model of care.
Ken treated Dallas Cowboys players from 1991 until retiring from practice and has worked with professional and collegiate athletes across multiple sports. He has also been invited to train medical staffs from professional football and basketball organizations. More than fifteen years ago, Master Dry Needling brought an autonomic focus to the dry needling seminar circuit. Ken remains passionate about giving the next generation of clinicians a practical, powerful and repeatable way to use it.
Instructor
Dr. Scott Dixon
DPT, CSCS, FMT, MDNC
Whole-body movement, functional care and performance
Scott combines dry needling, manual therapy and movement screening to help clinicians look beyond the site of pain.
Read full biography
Dr. Scott Dixon entered physical therapy after graduating from Chatham University. Following several years with respected clinics, he founded Integrative Physical Therapy to focus on individual care and treating the person—not simply the diagnosis.
Scott specializes in improving whole-body function and movement through dry needling, manual therapy and movement screening. After his first dry needling course, the technique quickly became a professional passion. He has earned multiple dry needling certifications, served as a guest instructor and now teaches regularly.
His background includes an undergraduate degree in Exercise Science from Georgia State University and work as a strength and conditioning coach, personal trainer and tennis professional. He has pursued extensive education in functional movement, fascial manipulation and other modalities, with particular experience in neck and back conditions. His patients have included celebrities, professional athletes and weekend warriors alike.
Instructor
Mitch Hauschildt
MA, ATC, CSCS, MDNC
Sports medicine, biomechanics and performance
Mitch brings the perspective of an athletic trainer, performance specialist and educator who has worked with thousands of athletes.
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Mitch Hauschildt serves as the Prevention, Rehab and Physical Performance Coordinator at Missouri State University, where he leads injury-prevention and rehabilitation strategy for 17 varsity sports and oversees sports medicine for women’s track and field and cross-country.
During his career at MSU, he has also served as a strength and conditioning coach for basketball and volleyball and as athletic trainer for the baseball program. His primary interests include functional movement, biomechanics and metabolics.
Mitch is founder and president of Maximum Training Solutions, a sports medicine and performance consultancy helping coaches, clinicians and athletes reach their potential. He has consulted for universities, private clinics, health systems, training studios and high schools. His clients have competed in the NFL, NBA, MLS, Olympics and local leagues. Mitch is also a nationally recognized speaker and has published in professional journals and coaching publications.
Instructor
Dr. Sarah Austin
PT, DPT, MDNC
Whole-body wellness, pelvic health and education
Sarah’s wide clinical background helps her connect dry needling to the whole person across settings and stages of life.
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Dr. Sarah Austin is a Texas-licensed physical therapist who earned her Master’s in Physical Therapy from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in 2002 and later pursued her transitional Doctorate of Physical Therapy at A.T. Still University.
Her clinical experience spans wellness, pelvic health, schools, outpatient orthopedics, pediatric acute care, home health, geriatrics and neurological rehabilitation. Those settings shaped a broad, holistic approach that combines dry needling and biomechanical treatment with the goal of helping the body return toward homeostasis.
Together with Lisa Rigsby, Sarah co-founded Wellpoint Wellness 510 and developed the physical therapist assistant program at Navarro College. Their shared commitment to whole-body care and pelvic-floor treatment continues to inform their clinical work and teaching.
Instructor
Dr. Peter Friesen
DPT, OCS, SCS, AT(L), CAT(C), CSCS, PES, MT(L), MDNC
Detailed anatomy, rehabilitation and elite sport
Peter brings more than four decades of professional sports, rehabilitation and university teaching experience to the lab.
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Dr. Peter Friesen serves as adjunct faculty in Doctor of Physical Therapy programs at Duke, Elon and Arcadia Universities, teaching orthopedics, sports and functional exercise. He also lectures within physical therapy programs at Campbell University, East Carolina University and the University of Connecticut.
His extensive sports career includes serving as Head Strength and Conditioning Coach for the United States Women’s National Hockey program and NC State cross-country and track and field. Before that, he spent 21 years with the Carolina Hurricanes as Head Athletic Trainer, Strength and Conditioning Coach and Massage Therapist.
Peter has represented Canada and the United States at national and world championships. He is board certified as both a Sports Clinical Specialist and Orthopedic Clinical Specialist and holds professional credentials in athletic training, strength and conditioning and massage therapy in the United States and Canada. His academic preparation includes degrees from Bemidji State, the University of Saskatchewan and Arcadia University.
Instructor
Dr. Lisa Rigsby
PT, DPT, MDNC
Pelvic health, muscle balance and clinical education
Lisa pairs broad physical therapy experience with a particular passion for pelvic-floor care, pain reduction and clinician education.
Read full biography
Dr. Lisa Rigsby is a Texas-licensed physical therapist who earned her Bachelor of Physical Therapy from UT Southwestern Medical Center in 1999 and her transitional Doctorate of Physical Therapy from Texas Tech University in 2017.
Lisa has treated orthopedic and neurological conditions in hospitals, inpatient rehabilitation, skilled nursing, home health and outpatient clinics. In 2006, she founded a successful contract home-health company that continues to serve older adults. Her clinical passion is identifying muscle imbalances—including those involving the pelvic floor—that contribute to pain and chronic conditions.
Lisa and Sarah Austin work together as co-owners of The Well and as educators at Navarro College, where they developed the physical therapist assistant program in 2013. Both hold Master Dry Needling, Pelvic Floor Dry Needling and Ultrasound Guided Dry Needling certifications, and their shared commitment to pelvic health continues to expand the program’s specialty knowledge.
Instructor
Dr. Jared Estock
PT, DPT, M.Ed., MDNC, ITPT, IDN, Cert. DN, EMT-B
Craniofacial care, concussion and total wellness
Jared connects extensive dry needling study with sports medicine, education, emergency medicine and whole-person care.
Read full biography
Dr. Jared Estock owns and operates Ease Rehab and Wellness in Martins Ferry, Ohio, a cash-based physical therapy practice he founded in 2019 for patients ranging from children to older adults. He also serves as a school counselor at Parkway West CTC.
Jared earned a bachelor’s degree in Exercise Physiology from Ohio University and his Doctor of Physical Therapy from Wheeling Jesuit University. His career has included outpatient sports medicine, concussion management, skilled nursing, hospital leadership and work with the Wheeling Nailers hockey organization. He later developed and led a sports medicine education program and completed graduate training in counseling. He is also trained as an EMT.
Jared has completed more than 160 hours of dry needling education from multiple institutions. His practice emphasizes total wellness rather than isolated symptoms, and dry needling now forms a major part of his clinical care. He is especially interested in the relationship between mental health, physical therapy, pain and overall well-being.
Live Pelvic Dry Needling Instructor
Dr. Casey Titus
BA, DC, MDNC
Pelvic biomechanics, pain neuroscience and clinical reasoning
Casey helps clinicians move beyond protocols by connecting scientific curiosity, precise anatomy and individualized care.
Read full biography
Dr. Casey Titus began exploring how lived experience becomes biology through undergraduate study in psychology and psychoneuroimmunology at Eastern Connecticut State University. She became a certified massage therapist before earning her Doctor of Chiropractic degree summa cum laude from the University of Bridgeport College of Chiropractic in 2005.
Over three decades, she has developed an evidence-based approach at the intersection of biomechanics, fascial science, pain neuroscience, functional anatomy and diagnostic reasoning. After practicing in Virginia, she established a private practice on North Carolina’s Outer Banks, where she has spent more than fifteen years treating neuromusculoskeletal conditions and supporting health and performance.
Casey sees dry needling as a powerful clinical tool when it is paired with thoughtful examination, anatomical precision and individualized care. Her particular interests include fascial adaptation, autonomic nervous system function and the pelvis as a central part of the body’s mechanical and neurological system. As an instructor, she is known for translating complex science into practical decisions clinicians can use.
What faculty membership means
Skill gets you noticed. Character earns trust.
MDN faculty are selected for more than credentials. The people teaching the course must be able to make sophisticated material feel learnable—and make every clinician in the room feel respected.
Clinically experienced
They understand how technique fits into real patient care.
Curious and collaborative
They remain willing to learn from colleagues and students.
Clear communicators
They can turn difficult anatomy and reasoning into practical steps.
Invested in your success
The goal is your confidence—not their applause.
Learn with us
Meet the faculty in the lab.
Choose a live course and build skills with clinicians who want you to succeed.
Practical dry needling education for clinicians who want to think clearly, treat confidently and keep learning.
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