Dynamic Muscle Stimulation for Pain, Tenderness, and Stiffness on Upper Back Muscles: A Novel Approach and Analysis on Shear-wave Elastography

Abstract

Abstract Upper back myalgia is a complaint of pain, stiffness, and tightness in the upper back muscles. It is characterized by acute or persistent neck–shoulder pain. We report the case of a 24-year-old male who presented with pain and swelling in the neck and upper back region, along with gradual restriction in cervical range of motion (ROM) for 2 months. The pretreatment assessment revealed severe tightness of the middle fibers of the trapezius and upper fibers of the rhomboid major muscle. Pretreatment elastography revealed high elasticity contrast index (ECI) values of 8.59 and 9.01, respectively, and a red region indicative of increased stiffness of the muscle fibers. The patient was treated with Naqvi’s-Dynamic Electrical Therapy Approach (Naqvi’s DELTA) which is a novel method of using interferential current with a dynamic stimulation probe for 15 min using ultrasound gel on the affected area and examining the patient for the effect of the DELTA on muscle elongation by shear wave elastography which is a unique variation in ultrasound imaging. The pre- and posttreatment findings revealed a significant reduction in stiffness of the muscle fibers, indicated by decreased ECI values of 2.14 and 0.94, respectively, in the blue region. In addition, posttreatment also had an impact on pain reduction and a significant increment in the overall cervical ROM.