CRISTI CUELLAR
Cristi has evolved into “Austin’s Holistic Physical Therapist” over the last 18 years, and loves the title. Cristi is passionate about alternative ways to manage chronic pain, especially through conscious exercise and living an anti-inflammatory lifestyle. She takes pride in providing high quality, one-on-one care, listening to the patient’s whole story because the root cause of their pain is usually intricate and deep.
In 2016, Cristi became certified in dry needling after feeling the benefits for herself. As a former track athlete, cheerleader, and bodybuilder, she had some nagging back pain and hip weakness, soon to find out that dry needling got her the quickest results.
Before starting CC Dry Needling & PT, she worked at various clinics in Texas and Las Vegas; and noticed how challenging it was to juggle multiple patients per hour. She decided it was time to start offering VIP service, thorough care, honest education, quicker results. She founded CC Dry Needling in 2019 and has been growing since.
In addition to balancing the musculoskeletal system and addressing trigger points, Cristi believes treating the nervous system is key to healing. Unfortunately, our society measures success by “hard work,” which leads to patients showing up in chronic sympathetic autonomic hyperactivity. Being in this “fight or flight” mode for long periods of time leads to body wide inflammation, pain, tissue rigidity, hypoxia, hormone imbalance, anxiety, and intestinal issues. Lately, Cristi has added protocols to increase the parasympathetic nervous system to enhance homeostasis in the body. This one factor sets CC Dry Needling apart from other clinics: We want to address the variables your doctor may not be considering.
Cristi has a Bachelor’s of Health and Science Degree from Baylor University and a Master of Physical Therapy Degree from Texas State University. As a licensed Physical Therapist, she has various continuing education certifications in Dry Needling, Exercise Correction, Reformer Pilates, Manual Therapy, YogaFit, Qigong, and Kinesiotaping techniques. She has also been part of the CHEK (Corrective Holistic Exercise Kinesiology) Institute as a Holistic Lifestyle Coach for over 6 years. She is an advocate for functional medicine, emotional intelligence and spiritual growth, and a fan of Dr Mark Hyman, Andrew Huberman, Dr Stacy Sims, Dr Terry Wahls and Dr Joe Dispenza.
In her free time, Cristi enjoys dance classes, outdoor activities, painting, and cooking gluten free dishes.
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BYRON MASSEY
Byron was certified in dry needling by the famous Dr James Dunning and 
The Dry Needling Institute/ American Academy of Manipulative Therapy for the last several years. He is a graduate of the Physical Therapist Assistant program at South University in Round Rock, and furthered his therapy skills with an Orthopedic Certification through Evidence in Motion. Byron values one-on-one treatment, fostering and the the opportunity to listen to a patient’s whole story, and address their problem wholly and completely.
Byron is a native Texan from Mesquite who moved to Austin in 2008. He was drawn to the PT world by a desire to serve others more and was intrigued by the opportunity to help people improve their quality
of life through the rehabilitation process. He enjoys meeting new people in the clinic every day, hearing their stories, and making connections with them.
Before life in the therapy world, Byron served on active duty in the United States Marine Corps from 2000-2006 as a Signals Intelligence Operator stationed in Pensacola, FL, Ft. Huachuca, AZ, and Kaneohe
Bay, HI. He always enjoys crossing paths with fellow Veterans.
When he’s not in the clinic, Byron spends time with his wife and young children. He can also be found working on household projects, outdoor cooking, or discovering the Austin outdoors all over again
through the eyes of his little ones. If he needs to reconnect with nature outside of the city, Byron goes fishing and camping, or heads to the mountains to snowboard.
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STEPHAN MILLER
Stephan has dry needled thousands of patients since 2016, when dry 
needling became legal in Texas. He enjoys treating patients with orthopedic problems in the outpatient setting. His professional interests include all dysfunctions related to the shoulder, hip, knees, neck, and back, with special interest in rehabbing high school athletes back to competitive sport. Stephan’s skill set includes various manual treatment techniques and certification in therapeutic dry needling. He uses Guasha tools after needling, cupping, and high velocity manipulation for the spine if needed.
Stephan has worked at various outpatient clinics and found it difficult to provide quality care due to schedule constraints and staffing issues. Even though he knew great dry needling protocols, there wasn’t enough time to provide them. He is now happy to share all his wisdom at CC Dry Needling since he delivers one on one high quality care during the hour. The longer the needles stay in, the better, he says. He has helped many patients avoid surgery, improve range of motion, and get back to their sport. Stephan also addressed the nervous system by addressing the Vagus nerve. Targeting the parasympathetic autonomic nervous system with needles has a homeostatic effect that can reduce anxiety, pain, inflammation; and improve sleep and recovery.
Personally, Stephan’s likes include a well home-made peanut butter chocolate chip cookie, and his dislikes include people who complain about how cold it is whenever the temperature falls below 50 F (remember, he is from Chicago). Stephan moved to Austin in 2016 because, well, smoked brisket. Stephan graduated from the University of Virginia with a Bachelor of Science in Commerce, and received his Doctorate of Physical Therapy from Franklin Pierce University.
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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
Does Dry needling hurt?
The goal of dry needling is to create a twitch response and depolarize the muscle membrane. During the treatment, needles are slowly inserted into the tight muscle, gently manipulated, and removed after a short period of time, and repeated in other muscles on different parts of the body if needed. Here, the tight fascia, ball of tissue we feel like a knot, is disrupted. Most people say its surprising but not painful. People that are afraid of needles elect to not have it done, and we treat the pain in different ways without the needles.
How often should one have this done?
Dry needling decreases pain, improved muscle elasticity and can improve the performance of the muscle. Once a week is very effective. Some people’s pain resolves within the first and 2nd visits, and they are able return to sport. Dry needling is a powerful way to remodel tissue. The more chronic the pain, the more sessions it may take to bring your tissue back to homeostasis. The number of treatments is really a case-by-case basis.It is important that the physical therapist review proper biomechanics and exercise routine so the patient does not have the problem return.
Wait, is it acupuncture?
No. Acupuncturists and Chinese medicine have been around for thousands of years and very effective of treating meridians.If you only compared dry needling and acupuncture with a photo, you might be stumped to identify each, but acupuncture is treats meridian lines to balance the body’s energy. Dry needling is designed to stimulate and ‘reset’ trigger points, or muscles that are irritable. The needles are somewhat the same, but dry needlers usually insert the needles deeper into the muscle. Dry Needling treats the neuromuscular system, and your physical therapist is needling to balance your muscular output. At CC Dry Needling, we also connect the needles to electrical stimulation which conditions the muscle and reduces the pain signals to the brain.
Can I get dry needling by anyone who is certified?
Is Dry Needling Safe?
It’s needles poking into your skin, so it would be weird if you didn’t question its safety. Physical therapists have 7+ years of schooling, plus know their anatomy very well. That said, you won’t be administered any anesthetic or drug, so there’s no risk of ingesting anything harmful. Needles are sterile, (never re-used) so no blood borne pathogens.
If you have cancer or an active infection, it is not safe to do dry needling. Speak to your doctor.
Side effects may include mild spotting caused by the needle, some bruising and residual soreness. These symptoms shouldn’t last more than two days. If you have a really low pain threshold, then you may sweat or faint. Please be vocal and stop the session.