The pain of a tattoo is dependant upon where it's going and how good the artist is also I guess. There are parts of the body where it's little more than an inconvenience, and other parts where it's very painful. I'm not afraid to admit that some of mine hurt a lot. One was nine hours total and by about hour three I was about ready to call it...

The dry-needling thing goes far deeper than a tattoo ever would and they hit all sorts of things below the surface, that's the reason they're effective apparently. Fingers crossed it works.