The therapeutic efficacy of dry needling latent myofascial trigger points

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of dry needling latent myofascial trigger points, in the treatment of Myofascial Pain Syndrome. The study was a prospective, randomized placebo controlled study. Sixty patients, between the ages of 18-60, from the greater Durban area participated in the study. They underwent a case history, relevant physical examination and a cervical spine examination. The sixty subjects were randomly allocated into two groups of thirty. Group one received sham/ placebo needling while group two received dry needling, after being diagnosed systematically as suffering from latent myofascial trigger points of the trapezius and/or the levator scapulae muscle/muscles. Each patient received two treatments within a week with a one-week follow-up. Subjective and objective measures were taken at all three visits. Subjective data was obtained from the Numerical Pain Rating Scale 101 and objective data was obtained from the use of the algometer. This data was used to perform statistical analysis using parametric unpaired and paired t-tests to compare inter- and intra-group data respectively, at a 95% level of confidence.