NCT05607459

Dry Needling, Manual Therapy and Exercise for Neck Pain Management

Efficacy of Adding Dry Needling to a Manual Therapy and Therapeutic Exercise Interventions for Managing Neck Pain Populations: A Randomized Controlled Trial

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 40 (actual)
• Sponsor: Camilo Jose Cela University · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 65 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

Since neck pain is the fourth highest disabling condition (with an estimated point prevalence of 20%, lifetime prevalence up to 70% and high recurrence rates), dry needling targeting myofascial trigger points in neck muscles has been proposed as an effective treatment for reducing pain and disability in patients with chronic neck pain. A recent meta-analysis reported whether dry needling could be recommended for this population. Low to moderate evidence suggests that dry needling can be effective at the short-term, but its effects on pressure pain sensitivity or cervical range of motion are limited.

Conditions

• Neck Pain, Posterior

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	Dry Needling	Dry needling consists of a skilled intervention which uses a thin filiform needle (as those used in acupuncture) to penetrate the skin and stimulate underlying myofascial trigger points (defined as "a hyperirritable spot in skeletal muscle that is associated with a hypersensitive palpable nodule in a taut band which is painful on manual compression and can give rise to characteristic referred pain, referred tenderness, motor dysfunction and autonomic phenomena.") This intervention will be performed targeting the upper trapezius and cervical multifidus muscles
BEHAVIORAL	Therapeutic Exercise	Patients will include a supervised therapeutic exercise program in their daily life, based on strengthening exercises for neck muscles.
OTHER	Manual Therapy	Patients will receive a manual compression (30 seconds) over myofascial trigger points located at the upper trapezius muscle, scalene muscles and cervical multifidus muscle.
OTHER	Sham Dry Needling	For the sham DN intervention, a similar approach will be used, but the skin will be not pierced since the material used will be a telescopic Park's sham device. The guide tube will be pressed against the skin mark and the sham needle will be allowed to drop. The handle will be tapped briskly, but the (blunted) needle tip will not not break the skin.

Timeline

• Start date: 2022-11-01
• Primary completion: 2025-03-28
• Completion: 2025-03-30
• First posted: 2022-11-07
• Last updated: 2025-07-01

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Spain