CRISTI CUELLAR
Cristi has spent the last 20 years earning her title as “Austin’s Holistic Physical Therapist.” She’s built her practice around concierge-level, one-on-one care — never rushing patients through a session, always taking the time to hear their whole story, because the root cause of chronic pain is intricate and deep.
Cristi is a dry needling specialist, certified since 2016 after experiencing its results firsthand as a former track athlete, cheerleader, and bodybuilder working through nagging back pain and hip weakness. After years at clinics in Texas and Las Vegas, where the pace made truly thorough care difficult, she set out to do things differently: VIP service, honest education, and faster results. That vision became CC Dry Needling & PT, founded in 2019.
What sets her practice apart is a deep focus on the nervous system. Beyond releasing trigger points and balancing the musculoskeletal system, Cristi treats chronic sympathetic “fight or flight” activation — the hidden driver behind inflammation, tissue rigidity, hormone imbalance, anxiety, and gut issues that so often gets overlooked. She and her team now build parasympathetic-balancing protocols into care to restore true homeostasis, addressing the variables a standard doctor’s visit may miss. Her approach blends conscious manual skills, precise exercise prescription, with an anti-inflammatory lifestyle to help patients manage pain at the source, not just the symptoms.
Cristi holds a Bachelor’s in Health Science from Baylor University and a Master of Physical Therapy from Texas State University, along with certifications in Dry Needling, Exercise Correction, Reformer Pilates, Manual Therapy, YogaFit, Qigong, and Kinesiotaping. She’s been a Holistic Lifestyle Coach through the CHEK Institute for over six years and is a committed advocate for functional medicine and whole-person healing.
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.Byrons approach combines strength training, injury prevention and lifestyle coaching to aid in recovery and athletic performance.
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, and can prescribe healing protocols through their lens.
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, a Chicago native, moved to Austin in the mid-2010s and spent eight years in outpatient clinics before establishing CC Dry Needling. He emphasizes that real recovery involves a comprehensive system beyond just needles. Since 2015, he has developed a method that utilizes therapeutic dry needling to address trigger points and activate myofascial chains, and can stimulate the vagus nerve to impact the autonomic nervous system if necessary. He has also pursued various manual techniques, including joint mobilization, manipulation, and cupping, tailoring specific needling protocols for each patient to achieve individual outcomes.
He is 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.