Abstract
Background: Trigger points are palpable nodules or irritable spots present in the skeletal muscles, painful upon pressure. This study is concerned with the pain in the upper Trapezius muscle due to the formation of myofascial trigger points and to make a comparison of the effectiveness of dry needling with dry cupping for treating upper trapezius myofascial trigger points.
 Methodology: Myofascial trigger points were diagnosed in 30 individuals in the upper trapezius. Subjects were randomized into Group-A (n=15) and Group-B (n=15) using the coin toss method. Patients were evaluated at baseline and after the termination of intervention using the Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS), Neck Disability Index (NDI) and cervical joint range of motions (ROM). Patients from both groups received three sessions of treatment on alternate days in one week.
 Results: Patients with both interventions resulted in significant improvement of NPRS (p=0.001), NDI (p=0.001), and cervical ranges of motion (p=0.001). However, between groups comparison of outcome measure showed no significant difference in NPRS (p=0.990), NDI (p=0.359), cervical flexion (p=0.457), cervical extension (p=0.382), right cervical lateral flexion (p=0.250), left cervical lateral flexion (p=0.792), right cervical rotation (p=0.336), and left cervical rotation (p=0.242) of motion.
 Conclusion: The pre-and post-intervention results have concluded that both treatment methods effectively treat myofascial trigger points. There was no significant difference between the two groups for numeric pain rating scale, neck disability index scoring and cervical range of motions.
Highlights
Pain in the human body is always associated as a symptom of any underlying condition, and it is one of the vital signs[1]
The results show that dry needling was effective in reducing the pain and disability of the cervical spine, and it improved all the ranges of cervical spine motion (Table 2)
This study shows no significant difference exists between the groups, i.e., either dry needling or dry cupping
Summary
Pain in the human body is always associated as a symptom of any underlying condition, and it is one of the vital signs[1]. Trigger points can be classified into latent and active points[5] Both types of MTrPs can cause a decrease in optimal biomechanical capacity. This study is concerned with the pain in the upper Trapezius muscle due to the formation of myofascial trigger points and to make a comparison of the effectiveness of dry needling with dry cupping for treating upper trapezius myofascial trigger points. Patients were evaluated at baseline and after the termination of intervention using the Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS), Neck Disability Index (NDI) and cervical joint range of motions (ROM). Patients from both groups received three sessions of treatment on alternate days in one week. There was no significant difference between the two groups for numeric pain rating scale, neck disability index scoring and cervical range of motions
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