NCT02169700

Ischemic Compression on Post-needling Soreness

Ischemic Compression After Dry Needling of a Latent Myofascial Trigger Point Reduces Post-needling Soreness Intensity and Duration.

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 90 (actual)
• Sponsor: Universidad Rey Juan Carlos · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 39 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

Myofascial trigger points (MTrPs) are identified through physical examination as hypersensitive spots within taut bands of skeletal muscle, painful on compression, triggering characteristic referred pain and generating motor dysfunction as well as autonomic phenomena. Different dry needling procedures have been described in the treatment of MTrPs. Needling therapies which consist in partially inserting and withdrawing the needle from the trigger point site in order to elicit local twitch responses are associated with higher effectiveness in releasing MTrPs. Deep dry needling has obtained a grade A recommendation compared to sham, for immediate reduction of pain in patients with upper-quadrant myofascial pain syndrome. Nevertheless, trigger point dry needling are frequently associated to a post-needling soreness. The application of ischemic compression (IC) after trigger point injection in the upper trapezius muscle has shown higher reduction of pain and disability in myofascial pain patients, compared with trigger point injection alone. To the authors' knowledge, no previous studies have evaluated the effectiveness of IC or any manual therapy methods for the treatment of post-needling soreness. The aims of this study were: (a) to evaluate the effectiveness of IC on reducing post-needling soreness after dry needling of one latent MTrP in the upper trapezius muscle, and (b) to investigate the effect dry needling combined with IC, compared to dry needling alone and dry needling combined with placebo IC will have on cervical range of motion (c) to determine whether psychological factors are predictive of postneedling pain and (d) to analyze if the relationships between psychological variables and postneedling pain varied as a function of postneedling soreness treatment

Conditions

• Neck Pain

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
PROCEDURE	Ischemic compression. Dry Needling	Ischemic compression was carried out after dry needling. Dry needling was performed with a solid filament needle. Subjects were asked to lie in a prone position. The MTrP was held firmly in a pincer grasp. Before inserting the needle, the patient was advised about the possible sharp pain and muscle twitching. The needle was inserted perpendicular to the skin. Then, the muscle fibers were repeatedly perforated by rapidly inserting and partially withdrawing the needles from the MTrP until two local twitch responses were elicited from the muscle. On removal of the needle, the area was compressed firmly with a cotton bud for two minutes. Immediately after the needling, subjects were randomly assigned to one of three groups (IC, sham and control).

Timeline

• Start date: 2013-12-01
• Primary completion: 2014-02-01
• Completion: 2014-05-01
• First posted: 2014-06-23
• Last updated: 2015-09-29

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Spain