NCT07123883

Dry Needling for Temporomandibular Disorder

Dry Needle Treatment for Acute Temporomandibular Disorders (TMD): A Clinical Perspective

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 40 (actual)
• Sponsor: Atlas University · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 45 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

This randomized controlled trial investigates the clinical effectiveness of dry needling in individuals with myofascial temporomandibular disorder (TMD). The study compares dry needling applied to trigger points in the masseter and temporalis muscles with conventional physical therapy. Primary outcomes include changes in pain intensity, and muscle EMG. Given these considerations, this study aims to investigate the clinical acute effectiveness of dry needling applied to the masseter and temporalis muscles in individuals diagnosed with myofascial TMD.

Detailed description

Temporomandibular disorders (TMDs) are a common group of musculoskeletal conditions affecting the jaw joint and surrounding muscles, often characterized by pain, limited mandibular mobility, and muscle tenderness. Among the various subtypes of TMD, myofascial pain is the most prevalent and typically involves the presence of myofascial trigger points (MTrPs) in the masticatory muscles. Dry needling (DN) is a minimally invasive technique that targets MTrPs using monofilament needles to induce a local twitch response and disrupt dysfunctional motor end plate activity. This single-blinded, randomized controlled trial aims to evaluate the acute clinical effectiveness of DN compared to conventional physical therapy in individuals with myofascial TMD. In our study, 36 participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups: the dry needling group or the sham group, using a randomization process conducted through random.org. The study aimed to examine the acute effects following a single application. A double-blind design was employed, with separate physiotherapists responsible for administering the intervention and conducting the assessments. The study consisted of three stages: pre-intervention assessment, intervention, and post-intervention assessment. Jaw pain intensity was evaluated at the end of the range of motion using a 100 mm VAS, a tool recognized for its high reliability in musculoskeletal assessments. All participants were asked to indicate their pain level on the VAS, allowing for a subjective quantification of perceived pain intensity Surface electromyographic (sEMG) activity of the jaw muscles was recorded bilaterally from the anterior temporalis (TA-R, TA-L) and masseter (MM-R, MM-L) muscles using the BioPAK System (version 7.2; BioResearch Associates Inc., Milwaukee, WI, USA).

Conditions

• TMD/Orofacial Pain
• Muscle Spasm

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
PROCEDURE	Dry Needling	Dry Needling
OTHER	sham needling	In the SG, a validated sham needling procedure was simulated.

Timeline

• Start date: 2025-07-28
• Primary completion: 2025-08-08
• Completion: 2025-08-30
• First posted: 2025-08-14
• Last updated: 2026-03-24

Locations

2 sites across 1 country: Turkey (Türkiye)