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How Dry Needling at the Neck Affects Shoulder Movement, Strength, Pain, and Shoulder Circulation

NCT06705634 · Status: ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 30

Last updated 2026-02-05

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Segmental facilitation, originally proposed by Korr in the 1950s, suggests that certain spinal segments can become hyperexcitable, leading to chronic pain development. In a facilitated segment, neurons governing sensory, motor, and autonomic functions are in a state of heightened sensitivity, making them responsive to normally weak stimuli. Clinical signs include non-fatigable muscle weakness, brisk reflexes, muscle hypertonicity, tenderness upon palpation, and trophic changes like an orange-peel appearance in the affected segment's innervated areas. It's hypothesized that increased synaptic excitability in facilitated segments could cause vasoconstriction and reduced blood flow, contributing to trophic changes and muscle hypertonicity.

Manual therapies like dry needling have been shown to alleviate muscle inhibition in the extremities. Previous studies have demonstrated that mobilization of the C5-6 joint can reduce non-fatigable weakness in shoulder external rotators primarily innervated by these segments. However, the neurophysiological effects of dry needling (DN) on muscle inhibition due to a facilitated segment remain unclear. While DN has been observed to increase local tissue blood flow, its potential to mitigate the clinical signs of segmental facilitation is uncertain. While DN has been observed to increase local tissue blood flow, its potential to mitigate the clinical signs of segmental facilitation is uncertain.

Therefore, this project aims to investigate whether DN applied at a facilitated segment could normalize blood flow to its associated muscles. Specifically, this study will explore whether DN at the C5-6 level improves blood flow in the infraspinatus muscle, enhances shoulder range of motion, and influences muscle strength over time. The secondary purpose is to determine whether C5-6 DN will reduce the number of tender points in the muscles supplied by C5-6.

Conditions

  • Dry Needling Technique
  • Neck Pain Musculoskeletal
  • Shoulder Pain
  • Neck Pain
  • Dry Needling

Interventions

OTHER

Dry Needling

A sterile, disposable, solid filament needle (Seirin Corp., Shizuoka, Japan) will be inserted manually into the multifidus of the C5-C6 cervical muscles. Once the needle has been inserted, the needle will be pistoned in an up and down motion within the multifidus muscle at approximately 1Hz for 10 seconds and then left in-situ for 5 minutes.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Texas Woman's University

    lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation
NA
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Model
SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Max Age
65 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2024-12-01
Primary Completion
2026-05-01
Completion
2026-05-01

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT06705634 on ClinicalTrials.gov