SUPERFICIAL DRY NEEDLING VS PSEUDO-PLACEBO: A PILOT DOUBLE-BLIND RANDOMIZED STUDY

Abstract

Introduction: dry needling is an invasive method for the treatment of myofascial trigger points (MTPs), the ones which cause myofascial pain syndrome (MPS). Superficial dry needling (SDN) involves inserting the needle overl-ying the MTPs letting act different physiological mechanisms which will contribute to its resolution. Immediate ef-fectiveness of SDN versus placebo is compared. Material and method: 22 subjects, both sexes, presenting active MTPs. They are divided into two and one of both techniques is applied without knowing if they are receiving either placebo or dry needling. Pressure pain, subjective pain and joint amplitude data are collected before the inter-vention, immediately after the intervention and one hour after the intervention. Results: pressure pain and subjective pain present statistically significant changes in dry needling group. In the range of motion, dry needling group impro-ves statistically in contralateral inclination and homolateral rotation, that is to say, in the muscle elongation capacity. Ne-vertheless, there is a significant improvement in placebo group for contralateral inclination and contralateral rotation. Anyway, no statistically significant changes are produced for inter-group comparison. Conclusion: superficial dry needling is effective for active trigger point treatment in upper trapezius, at least in immediate term, but it is not proved that it is better than placebo. More investigations should be conducted with a bigger sample and a real placebo.