T.J. Watt had what must have been a frightening week, going to the hospital for surgery in what turned out -- as his brother J.J. Watt posted on X (formerly Twitter) -- was a "partially collapsed lung suffered Wednesday after a dry needling treatment session at the [Steelers'] facility."

J.J. added that he was being released on Friday. But it left a lot of questions for people unfamiliar with "dry needling" and why it might cause a problem with T.J.'s lung.

We're here to explain all of that, even though the answers to what exactly happened haven't been fully delivered.

Here's what we know about all this:

What is a dry needling treatment?

Per the Mayo Clinic:

During a dry needling treatment, one or more thin, monofilament needles are inserted into a muscle trigger point. A trigger point is a local band of tight, irritable and dysfunctional muscle tissue. This often emerges because of injury, overuse or poor movement patterns.

Trigger points can disrupt your muscle function, restrict your range of motion or cause pain and tenderness. Physical therapists or licensed acupuncturists perform an in-depth evaluation to determine if dry needling is appropriate. Then they discuss your symptoms while assessing mobility and muscle function to determine if trigger points are contributing to symptoms.

It is sort of similar to acupuncture.

Does dry needling cause collapsed lungs?

As dry needling practitioner and teacher Dr. Sue Falsone told ESPN:

Falsone noted that the four most common adverse reactions consistently documented in the scientific literature are relatively benign. They include bleeding (noted as a drop or two of blood at the needle site), localized bruising, pain or residual soreness at the needle site and pain or soreness away from the site.

"Pneumothorax [punctured lung] is reported in the literature as a very rare event," Falsone said.

How long is T.J. Watt out for?

Seems like he'll return before the end of the regular season, but he'll be out for Week 15 at least.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: What is dry needling treatment? T.J. Watt procedure, explained

Reporting by Charles Curtis, For The Win / For The Win

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect