Effects of Temperature on Chronic Trapezius Myofascial Pain Syndrome during Dry Needling Therapy.

Gang Wang,Jun Li,Qian Gao,Jingshan Hou

doi:10.1155/2014/638268

Gang Wang, Jun Li + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/638268

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of temperature on chronic trapezius myofascial pain syndrome during dry needling therapy. Sixty patients were randomized into two groups of dry needling (DN) alone (group A) and DN combined with heat therapy group (group B). Each patient was treated once and the therapeutic effect was assessed by the visual analogue scale (VAS), pressure pain threshold (PPT), and the 36-item short form health survey (SF-36) at seven days, one month, and three months after treatment. Evaluation based on VAS and PPT showed that the pain of patients in groups A and B was significantly (P < 0.05) relieved at seven days, one month, and three months after treatment Compared to before treatment. There was significantly (P < 0.05) less pain in group B than group A at one and three months after treatment. The SF-36 evaluation demonstrated that the physical condition of patients in both groups showed significant (P < 0.05) improvement at one month and three months after treatment than before treatment. Our study suggests that both DN and DN heating therapy were effective in the treatment of trapezius MPS, and that DN heating therapy had better long-term effects than DN therapy.

Highlights

Myofascial pain syndrome (MPS) is a common clinical disease defined as a regional pain syndrome with characteristics of muscle pain caused by myofascial trigger points (MTrPs) [1]
visual analogue scale (VAS) analogue scale showed that the pain in patients of group A was relieved after seven days, one month, and three months after treatment than before treatment
The pressure pain threshold (PPT) values showed that the pain in patients of group A was relieved after seven days, one month, and three months after treatment than before treatment

Summary

Introduction

Myofascial pain syndrome (MPS) is a common clinical disease defined as a regional pain syndrome with characteristics of muscle pain caused by myofascial trigger points (MTrPs) [1]. Due to a stiff trapezius muscle, neck and upper back pain is the most common complaint in MPS [3]. Epidemiological investigations revealed that 30%–85% of patients with pain in the United States have MTrPs [4,5,6]. Among 96 patients with muscle pain who met with Gerwin [7], 74% is caused by MTrPs. There are many treatments of MPS and dry needing (DN) therapy is increasingly used. DN is an aggressive therapy that treats lesions with dry needling alone (such as acupuncturing MTrPs), without medication. Studies on the effect of simple acupuncture have increased and are called DN in order to distinguish it from the traditional drug injection

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