Dry Needling vs Dry Needling With ES in Patients With Neck/Shoulder Pain

Kindyle Brennan

Status: Completed

Conditions: Shoulder Pain; Myofascial Pain; Neck Pain

Treatments: Procedure: Dry needling with intramuscular electrical stimulation (DNES); Procedure: Dry needling (DN)

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03638388

DNvDN-ES

Details and patient eligibility

About

First, we aim to determine if there is a difference in the rate of improvement, as measured by the Neck Disability Index (NDI) and Numerical Pain Rating Scale (NPRS), across a 6 week treatment period between those treated with DN only and those treated with DN and intramuscular electrical stimulation (IES) in subjects with upper trapezius active trigger points (aTrPs). Secondly, we want to determine if improvements in clinical outcomes (NDI and NPRS) of patients with upper trapezius active trigger points (aTrPs) treated with dry needling (DN) alone or dry needling with intramuscular electrical stimulation (DN/IES) are maintained 6 weeks post treatment without further intervention.

Research Questions:

1. Is there a difference in the rate of improvement in NDI and NPRS across a 6 week treatment period in subjects with upper trapezius active trigger points (aTrPs) between those treated with DN only and those treated with DN and intramuscular electrical stimulation (IES)?
2. Are improvements in clinical outcomes (NDI and NPRS) of patients with upper trapezius active trigger points (aTrPs) treated with dry needling (DN) maintained 6 weeks post treatment without further intervention? Tertiary exploration: If improvement is maintained, is there a difference in outcome maintenance between groups? Did improvement increase between 6 and 12 weeks?

Enrollment: 45 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 60 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

18-59 years old have an active email account have at least one palpable active trigger point (TrP) (located in one or both upper trapezius) English speaking

Exclusion criteria

current or previous history of cancer active infection neurologic deficit cognitive deficit pregnancy connective tissue disease and/or autoimmune disorder smoke tobacco received previous DN treatments within 6 weeks of the study, experienced unilateral or bilateral neck/shoulder pain continuously for 3 months or longer

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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45 participants in 2 patient groups

Dry Needling (DN)

Active Comparator group

Description:

Subjects will receive dry needling treatment, once a week, for 6 weeks. Outcomes will be measured at baseline (week 0), 3 weeks after initiation of study (week 3), 6 weeks after initiation of study (week 6), and 6 weeks after last treatment (week 12).

Treatment:

Procedure: Dry needling (DN)

Dry Needling with Intramuscular electrical stimulation (DNES)

Active Comparator group

Description:

Subjects will receive dry needling treatment with electrical stimulation, once a week, for 6 weeks. Outcomes will be measured at baseline (week 0), 3 weeks after initiation of study (week 3), 6 weeks after initiation of study (week 6), and 6 weeks after last treatment (week 12).

Treatment:

Procedure: Dry needling with intramuscular electrical stimulation (DNES)