“Physiotherapy Combined With Dry Needling Among Patients With Chronic Neck Pain: A Randomized Clinical Trial.”

Abstract

Background: Neck pain is a sensation of discomfort that can be felt anywhere from the base of the skull at ear level to the upper section of the back, shoulder, or arm. When a nerve root in both hands and just one is engaged, neck pain may also extend up to the finger. Objective: To find out the impact of combined therapy of dry needling and physiotherapy compared to the treatment effect of only physiotherapy among patients with chronic neck pain. Methods: This study was done through using assessor blinding randomized clinical trial. Forty patients with neck pain were randomly assigned to experimental (n=20) and control groups (n=20), 18 session of dry needling apply to intervention group and control group received conventional physiotherapy. Neck pain intensity measured with numeric pain rating scale (NPRS) and disability measured with Oswestry neck pain disability index questionnaire (NDI) before treatments and follow-up after 6 weeks. The findings were analyzed statistically considering a 5% significance level (p≤0.05). Results: There were significant improvements obtained between the experimental and control groups. The researcher also found that dry needling groups’ improvement were more significant than the conventional groups. Conclusion: This study investigated that dry needling with physiotherapy and conventional physiotherapy was effective intervention in chronic neck pain. But dry needling group showed better improvement in all the aspect of patient with chronic neck pain. Keywords: Dry needling, physiotherapy, chronic neck pain, randomized clinical trials.