The Effects of Dry Needling in Combination with Physical Therapy on Improvement of Pain and Hip Internal Rotation Range in Patients with Piriformis Syndrome

Abstract

Introduction: Piriformis syndrome may be a source of low back, buttock pain or sciatica, due to existence of myofascial trigger point in piriformis muscle. The aim of this study was to investigate the immediate effects of dry needling on improvement of pain and hip internal rotation range in piriformis syndrome. Materials and Methods: 40 athletes participants with piriformis syndrome were randomly divided into two groups, experimental group (conventional physiotherapy besides dry needling) (n=20) and control group (conventional physiotherapy) (n=20). 5 sessions of conventional physiotherapy was performed for both groups, but dry needling was performed at the end of 1 th , 3 th and 5 th sessions. Hip internal rotation and pain were respectively measured by goniometer and visual analog scale. All the data were measured before applying intervention, and at the end of odd sessions. The repeated measures ANOVA with between subjects factor was used to analyze the data and significant level was set at P <0.05. Results: The results showed that there were significant reduction in pain and significant increase in hip internal rotation at different time in two groups ( P <0.05) and this differences was more apparent in the experimental group. Conclusion : The result of this study showed that, the use of dry needling plus conventional physiotherapy has a superiority immediate effect on pain and hip internal rotation range. Keywords: Piriformis syndrome, Dry needling, VAS, Hip internal rotation