The effect of combining physiotherapy with dry needling in patients with cervical spondylosis: A randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND

There are no data on the additional contribution of dry needling (DN) for trigger points (TPs) accompanying patients with cervical spondylosis (CS).

OBJECTIVE

To analyse the contribution of DN applied to concomitant active TPs in the upper trapezius muscle on the treatment outcomes of physiotherapy in CS.

METHODS

In this prospective randomized controlled study, 70 patients with CS and active TPs in the upper trapezius muscle were included. The first group received physiotherapy for 5 days per week for 3 weeks. The second group received DN with the same program. All participants were evaluated before treatment (day 0) and at the end of treatment (day 21) in terms of pain, functional status, quality of life, anxiety/depression scores, and number of TPs.

RESULTS

33 patients in the first group and 32 patients in the second group completed the study. While the change over time was found significant in all variables, the change was not different between groups. The group-time interaction effect was not found to be statistically significant in any variable. Percentage changes of all variables were similar between the groups.

CONCLUSION

DN treatment added to the physiotherapy did not contribute to recovery in patients with CS.