An exploratory study of the immediate and short term effectiveness of dry needling the primary, active trigger point on clinical diagnostic findings in patients with myofascial pain syndrome of the biceps muscle

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the immediate and short term effectiveness of dry needling the primary, active Biceps TrP on the pain experienced during shoulder flexion and abduction range of motion, as well as on an associated bicipital tendonitis and satellite TrP's. The study was a prospective, controlled, pilot study that included 30 patients from the greater Durban area. All patients were between the ages of 20 and 45 years and all were diagnosed with an active trigger point (TrP) in the Biceps muscle. Each patient was required to attend three visits on three consecutive days. The treatment intervention was dry needling of the active Biceps TrP. Subjective and objective data was obtained from the patients before and after the first consultation. At the second consultation, if the Biceps TrP was still present andactive, the subjective and objective data was obtained before and after the treatment again (Group lA). If, however, at this consultation, the TrP had resolved,no treatment intervention wasgivenand both types of data were obtained only once (Group lB). The third consultation was reserved for data collection only, no treatment intervention wasgiven to the patients.