Dry Needling vs Dry Needling With ES in Patients With Neck/Shoulder Pain

Summary

First, we aim to determine if there is a difference in the rate of improvement, as measured by the Neck Disability Index (NDI) and Numerical Pain Rating Scale (NPRS), across a 6 week treatment period between those treated with DN only and those treated with DN and intramuscular electrical stimulation (IES) in subjects with upper trapezius active trigger points (aTrPs). Secondly, we want to determine if improvements in clinical outcomes (NDI and NPRS) of patients with upper trapezius active trigger points (aTrPs) treated with dry needling (DN) alone or dry needling with intramuscular electrical stimulation (DN/IES) are maintained 6 weeks post treatment without further intervention.

Research Questions:

1. Is there a difference in the rate of improvement in NDI and NPRS across a 6 week treatment period in subjects with upper trapezius active trigger points (aTrPs) between those treated with DN only and those treated with DN and intramuscular electrical stimulation (IES)?
2. Are improvements in clinical outcomes (NDI and NPRS) of patients with upper trapezius active trigger points (aTrPs) treated with dry needling (DN) maintained 6 weeks post treatment without further intervention? Tertiary exploration: If improvement is maintained, is there a difference in outcome maintenance between groups? Did improvement increase between 6 and 12 weeks?

Conditions

• Myofascial Pain
• Neck Pain
• Shoulder Pain

Interventions

PROCEDURE

Dry needling (DN)

One to three filament needles (similar to an acupuncture needle) with no medication will be inserted into the tender area of my muscle. The needles will be repositioned a few times to make the muscle twitch. After several twitches occur, the researcher will leave the needles as they are, and the subject will sit in a chair without moving my arms or head, for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes the needles are removed and discarded.

PROCEDURE

Dry needling with intramuscular electrical stimulation (DNES)

One to three filament needles (similar to an acupuncture needle) with no medication will be inserted into the tender area of the muscle. The needles will be repositioned a few times to make the muscle twitch. After several twitches occur, the researcher will leave the needles as they are, and attach alligator clips to the needles to provide electrical stimulus for 10 minutes while the subject sits in a chair without moving arms or head. After 10 minutes, the electrical stimulus will be turned off and detached, and the needles removed and discarded.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Kindyle Brennan

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Kindyle L. Brennan, PHD,PT · University of Mary Hardin-Baylor

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

60 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2018-08-16

Primary Completion

2018-12-01

Completion

2019-02-01

Countries

• United States

Study Locations