Dry needling of upper trapezius for pain relief: Can number of sessions decide the outcome?

The purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of three different durations of dry needling sessions, [2, 4 and 6 sessions] in treating neuromuscular pain, due to myofascial trigger points [MTP] in upper trapezius muscle, with a follow-up of 20 days. Convenient samples of 30 participants with upper trapezius trigger points were randomly divided in three groups for each treatment session of 2, 4 and 6 sessions. Pain intensity measured by VAS was assessed before the treatment, at the end of treatment and at follow-up of 20 days. Repeated measures ANOVA showed significant differences between the pre, post and follow-up period for VAS in three groups[p<0.00]. Also between group comparisons for VAS at post reading and follow-up were statistically significant for all the three groups with maximum reduction of pain reported in group C[6 sessions] followed by group B[4 sessions] and A[2 sessions] respectively[p<0.00]. Dry needling is effective in reducing pain in myofascial trigger points in upper trapezius muscle. However, more number of sessions of dry needling showed better results for reduction of pain than less with results maintained at post as well as follow-up of 3 weeks.

Keywords –Dry needling, Myofascial trigger points, neuromuscular pain