NCT03638388

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

Completed NA Last updated 25 March 2019

What this trial tests

NA trial testing Dry needling (DN) in Myofascial Pain in 45 participants. Completed in 1 February 2019.

Timeline

16 August 2018

Primary endpoint
1 December 2018

1 February 2019

Quick facts

Lead sponsor	Kindyle Brennan
Phase	NA
Status	Completed
Study type	INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation	randomized
Design	parallel
Masking	none
Primary purpose	treatment
Enrollment	45
Start date	16 August 2018
Primary completion	1 December 2018
Estimated completion	1 February 2019
Sites	1 location across United States

Drugs / interventions tested

• Dry needling (DN)
• Dry needling with intramuscular electrical stimulation (DNES)

Conditions studied

• Myofascial Pain — all drugs for Myofascial Pain →
• Neck Pain — all drugs for Neck Pain →
• Shoulder Pain — all drugs for Shoulder Pain →

Sponsor

Kindyle Brennan

Who can join

Adults 18 to 60, any sex, with Myofascial Pain or Neck Pain. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.

Sponsor's own description

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?

Publications & conference data

1 peer-reviewed publication reference this trial (live from Europe PMC):

1. Rate and maintenance of improvement of myofascial pain with dry needling alone vs. dry needling with intramuscular electrical stimulation: a randomized controlled trial.
   Brennan K, Elifritz KM, Comire MM, Jupiter DC. · · 2021 · cited 15× · PMID 32990529 · DOI 10.1080/10669817.2020.1824469