NCT03605563

Fu's Subcutaneous Needling on the Myofascial Trigger Points: Lateral Epicondylitis

Changes in the Muscle Tone of Affected Muscle After Fu's Subcutaneous Needling on the Myofascial Trigger Points - a Sample of Lateral Epicondylitis

• Status: Unknown
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 90 (estimated)
• Sponsor: China Medical University Hospital · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 20 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

Lateral epicondylitis, also called tennis elbow, is the most common disease in elbow-pain symptoms. The symptoms can have a major impact on the patient's activity of daily life, including turning a doorknob, lifting a full coffee cup to mouth, or wringing out a dish rag. This is a randomized study, the investigators will evaluate the immediate, short-term, and long-term effect of Fu's subcutaneous needling on the patients suffering with lateral epicondylitis.

Detailed description

Lateral epicondylitis, also called tennis elbow, is the most common disease in elbow-pain symptoms. The major mechanism is overuse of the flexors, extensors and supination muscles in the wrist, causing micro-trauma in the muscles attachment to the lateral epicondyle of the elbow. The long-term accumulated and poor repaired trauma causes myofascial trigger points in the related muscles. Patients often describe pain at the lateral aspect of the elbow. Pain can be further elicited with passive wrist flexion and by resisting active wrist extension. Symptoms also include weakness in the grip strength and limitation of elbow motion. Therefore, it can have a major impact on the patient's activity of daily life, including turning a doorknob, lifting a full coffee cup to mouth, or wringing out a dish rag. Fu's subcutaneous needling (FSN), as one of the dry needle treatments, performed by swaying a disposable Fu's subcutaneous needle parallel to the underlying muscles after penetrating the skin to the subcutaneous fascia. With the reperfusion activities, myofascial pain and soft tissue pain caused by myofascial trigger points can be decreased effective simultaneously. So far, there is no solid research or clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy of the treatment yet. The investigators will conduct the randomized experiment to evaluate the immediate, short-term, and long-term effect of FSN. The outcome measures include visual analog scale, patient-rated tennis elbow evaluation questionnaire, pressure pain threshold, pain-free grip test, muscle tone changes and ultrasonographic evaluaton of the common extensor tendon.

Conditions

• Lateral Epicondylitis

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
PROCEDURE	Fu's subcutaneous needling	Fu's Subcutaneous Needle (FSN), is an innovation for the treatment of myofascial pain and trigger points. The needle is a non-injection needle, and the fact that both needles are manipulated and act on soft connective tissue. FSN abstains from the muscle and deep fascia layers and is confined to only the subcutaneous layer where collagen fibers are most abundant. As the subcutaneous layer is poorly innervated, pain is less than other needling therapies. FSN is also currently being used successfully to treat non-musculoskeletal conditions.
PROCEDURE	Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation	Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS or TNS) is the use of electric current produced by a device to stimulate the nerves for therapeutic purposes. TENS, by definition, covers the complete range of transcutaneously applied currents used for nerve excitation although the term is often used with a more restrictive intent, namely to describe the kind of pulses produced by portable stimulators used to treat pain. The unit is usually connected to the skin using two or more electrodes. A typical batteryoperated TENS unit is able to modulate pulse width, frequency and intensity. Generally TENS is applied at high frequency (\>50 Hz) with an intensity below motor contraction (sensory intensity) or low frequency (\<10 Hz) with an intensity that produces motor contraction.

Timeline

• Start date: 2018-05-01
• Primary completion: 2019-02-28
• Completion: 2019-04-28
• First posted: 2018-07-30
• Last updated: 2018-07-30

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Taiwan