Dry needling of the trapezius muscle in office workers with neck pain: a randomized clinical trial

Abstract

Background: Neck pain is a frequent complaint in office workers. This pain can be caused by myofascial trigger points (MTrPs) in the trapezius muscle. This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of deep dry needling (DDN) of active MTrPs in the trapezius muscle. Methods: A randomized, single blinded clinical trial was carried out at the Physical Therapy Department at Physiotherapy in Women's Health Research Group at Physical Therapy Department of University of Alcalá, in Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain. Forty-four office workers with neck pain and active MTrPs in the trapezius muscle were randomly allocated to either the DDN or the control group (CG). The participants in the DDN group were treated with DDN of all MTrPs found in the trapezius muscle. They also received passive stretch of the trapezius muscle. The CG received the same passive stretch of the trapezius muscle only. The primary outcome measure was subjective pain intensity, measured using a visual analogue scale (VAS). Secondary outcomes were pressure pain threshold (PPT), cervical range of motion (CROM) and muscle strength. Data were collected at baseline, after interventions and 15 days after the last treatment. Results: Differences were found between the DDN group and the CG for the VAS (P < 0.001), PPT (P < 0.001), range of motion (AROM) (P < 0.05) and strength (P < 0.05) after intervention and at the 15-day follow-up. Discussion: Deep dry needling and passive stretch seems to be more effective than passive stretch only. The effects are maintained in the short term. The results support the use of DDN in the management of trapezius muscle myofascial pain syndrome in neck pain.

The local twitch response during trigger point dry needling: Is it necessary for successful outcomes?

“…Thus, TrPDNdi.e. without injectatedis becoming a popular therapeutic intervention among health professionals (Rodriguez-Mansilla et al, 2016) and involves the insertion of thin monofilament (Cerezo-Tellez et al, 2016a) or hollow bore needles (Kamanli et al, 2005) without delivery of any drug into a MTrP region. Current systematic reviews report that direct MTrP needling is superior only to placebo for reducing pain (Tough and White, 2011) at immediate (Kietrys et al, 2013), shortterm (Boyles et al, 2015;Kietrys et al, 2013;Liu et al, 2015) and medium-term (Liu et al, 2015) follow up.…”

myoActivation: A Structured Process for Chronic Pain Resolution

“…Interestingly, dry needling also appears to be associated with activation of diffuse noxious inhibitory control reducing pain sensitivity in remote areas to the site of needling. This may be mediated through endogenous opioid mechanisms [ There are a number of papers in support of the treatment effects, beyond the placebo effect, of myofascial release [51,62,66,[87][88][89][90][91][92][93][94][95][96][97][98][99]. Recent reviews have concluded that better quality studies with standardized interventions and outcomes are required to show that myofascial release is an effective intervention in the different types of myofascial pain syndromes [100][101][102].…”

Relationship between Functional State of Cervical Spine, Fear of Movement and Neck-Shoulder Muscle Pain Threshold in Office Workers in The Aspect of Gender

“…Skausmo slenksčiui matuoti pasirinkta algometrija ir naudojamas skaitmeninis "Wagner Instruments" algometras. Matuojant skausmo slenkstį, tiriamieji turėjo pasakyti "stop" tuomet, kai pajausdavo diskomfortą ar skausmą spaudimo vietoje (Cerezo-Tellez et al, 2016). Buvo tirti kairės ir dešinės pusės raumenys (1 pav.…”