Trigger Point Dry Needling With and Without Electrical Stimulation in Healthy Subjects (DN)

University of Rhode Island

Status: Completed

Conditions: People With Identified Painful Trigger Points (Tp) Within the Soleus and Gastrocnemius Muscles Complex; Healthy Subjects or Volunteers

Treatments: Procedure: Dry needling; Procedure: Sham; Procedure: Electrical stimulation; Procedure: Dry needling with electrical stimulation

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT07384247

IRB 2122-042

IRB (Other Identifier)

Details and patient eligibility

About

DN is one of the most commonly used physical therapy (PT) interventions for managing trigger points (Tp). Evidence suggests that DN was equally effective as other PT interventions, compared to no treatment or Sham-DN. Electrical stimulation (ES) is also a commonly used non-invasive method for pain management during PT. Recently, several studies suggested that combining DN with ES may be more effective in trigger point release than DN alone. The goal of this clinical trial was to determine the effects that trigger point dry needling with and without electrical stimulation had on pain threshold. It would also learn about the effect the trigger point dry needling has on muscle activity in people with identified painful trigger points within the soleus and gastrocnemius muscle complex. The main questions it aims to answer are:

• In terms of trigger point pain threshold, is DN combined with ES superior to DN alone, ES alone, or Sham treatment?
• In terms of muscle activity, is DN with ES superior to DN only, ES only or Sham treatment? Researchers will compare dry needling with electrical stimulation, dry needling only, electrical stimulation only and a Sham treatment to see these interventions affect pain threshold and muscle activity.

Participants will:

• Randomly assigned as one of the four groups
• Visit the clinic once for test
• Receive permission and conduct intervention according to protocol.

Enrollment: 40 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 55 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Inclusion Criteria: healthy volunteers with at least 2 ≥ identifiable trigger points in soleus or gastrocnemius

Exclusion Criteria:

Age < 18 or > 55, able to communicate in English, no medical illness, or allergies

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: N/A

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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40 participants in 1 patient group

Healthy subjects who has identified painful trigger points within the soleus and gastrocnemius.

Experimental group

Description:

This study was a randomized controlled trial. Forty volunteers, aged 18-55 were recruited, signed an informed consent and randomly placed in four equal groups: dry needling with simultaneous electrical stimulation, dry needling only, electrical stimulation only, and a Sham treatment.

Treatment:

Procedure: Electrical stimulation

Procedure: Dry needling with electrical stimulation

Procedure: Sham

Procedure: Dry needling