Dry Needling of the Trapezius Muscle in Office Workers With Neck Pain

University of Alcala

Status: Completed

Conditions: Myofascial Trigger Point Pain

Treatments: Other: group 2. Passive analitical stretch (performed in both groups); Other: Group 1. Deep dry needling

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02219386

44/11Comision of investigation

Details and patient eligibility

About

Deep dry needling of active myofascial trigger points of trapezius muscle is effective in the dimminution of pain of patients

Full description

EVALUATION:

A blind assesor does a complete evaluation of the patients to determine if they take part of the study. An assesment of pain (by visual analogue scale), Pain pressure theshold (kg/cm2 by algometry, Range of motion (CROM goniometer in degrees) and strength (digital dinamometry in Newtons) are performed. In this evaluation inclusion criteria is checked too.

INTERVENTION:

-TREATMENT GROUP(Deep dry needling group (DDN)):

An experienced physical therapist performed this treatment. The intervention included DDN of every active MTrP found in the trapezius muscle using a 4 cm x 0.32 mm acupuncture needle with guided tube. ). In the case of upper trapezius active MTrPs, DDN was performed in the prone position. For medium and lower trapezius muscle MTrPs, DDN was performed in a side-lying position as described by Simons et al. (Simons et al., 1999). Once the needle was inserted into the MTrP previously marked by the blinded assessor, local twitch responses (LTRs) were obtained by using Hong's fast-in and fast-out technique, which involves rapid movements of the needle in and out of the MTrP.

After that, the stretch is performed

• Passive stretch of the trapezius muscle (both groups)

Another experienced physical therapist, after taking part of training-sesions to do the same stretch as in DDN group, performed the stretch.Participants in this group received the same stretch as patients in treatment group.

Enrollment: 44 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• over 18
• present myofascial trigger points in trapezius muscle

Exclusion criteria

• to be under anti-inflammatory, analgesic, anticoagulant, muscle relaxant or antidepressant medication at the start of the study or one week before it (Simons, 2004)
• to suffer from fibromyalgia syndrome, or to have any contraindication to conservative or invasive physiotherapy (infection, fever, hypothyroidism, fear of needles, wounds in the area of the puncture, metal allergy, cancer, systemic disease) (Baldry, 2005).

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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44 participants in 2 patient groups

Deep dry needling

Active Comparator group

Description:

The group of DDN receive this treatment and stretch

Treatment:

Other: Group 1. Deep dry needling

muscle stretch

Other group

Description:

The stretch applied was as described by Simons et al. (Simons et al., 1999). During the stretch the physiotherapist took up the slack, avoiding pain elicitation, maintaining the tension for four seconds and releasing the tension for eight seconds; this cycle was repeated three times

Treatment:

Other: Group 1. Deep dry needling

Other: group 2. Passive analitical stretch (performed in both groups)