MODIFICATION IN THE LEVELS OF ANALGESIC SUBSTANCES AFTER DRY NEEDLING TREATMENT IN CHRONIC LOW BACK PAIN

Abstract

Introduction: nonspecific chronic low back pain accounts for more than 85 % of chronic low back pain. Its origin is generally muscular, where the quadratus lumborum muscle is especially important due to the frequency of myofascial trigger points that appear in it. The most widely used treatment currently is pharmacological with its con-sequent side effects, hence the importance of physiotherapy and specifically dry needling. Objectives: to compare the effect of dry needling versus a placebo on the blood concentration of the analgesic substances released. Material and method: a pilot randomized clinical trial was carried out, with triple blindness of patients, evaluator and statistician. The sample consisted of 24 subjects between the ages of 18 and 65, diagnosed with non-specific chronic low back pain, with pain for at least 6 months. The experimental group (EG) received a real dry needling treatment (n = 12) and the control group (CG) received a placebo needling (n = 12). Results: in the intragroup com-parisons we only found significant differences in the CG in cortisol levels (the pretest value being higher than the two post-treatment measurements) and in the EG in norepinephrine (the pretest value being lower than the pos-ttest2). In the comparisons between both groups, we found significant differences in the levels of cortisol, adrenaline and dopamine in the «Difference 1» and in the «Percentage of change 1» (in the CG the values decreased between the pretest and the posttest 1 while in the EG they increased). Conclusions: dry needling treatment seems to release analgesic substances that can help reduce non-specific chronic low back pain, showing differences compared to placebo needling in cortisol, adrenaline and dopamine levels.