Compare the effects of shock wave and dry needle on clinical signs of upper trapezius activated trigger points in patientswith non-specific chronic neck pain

Abstract

Introduction:neck pain is one of the common problems which have been experienced by more than 50% of adults over the past 6 months .triger point is one of non-specific neek pain reasons. Trigger point is one of non-specific neck pain reason .trigger points are defined as high-sensitivity points that are found when tight muscle bands are touched .they are the initial pain source of 30-85% people with musculoskeletal disorder. The study aimed to compare shock wave and dry needle effects on severity and pressure threshold of upper trappezios muscle trigger points as well as improve the function of patients with non-specific chronic neck pain. Materials and methods : the study was a single blind clinical trial and 70 patients with chronic non- specific neck pain andactive trigger points of upper trapezius muscle were randomly divided into two groups :shock wave(36)and dry needle (34)and were treatmed weekly once for three treatment sessions. The pain severity was measured using numerical pain measurement and pressure threshold using a digital algorithm at the beginning of each three sessions and one week after the third session end ;the degree of neck dis ability was measured once befor the first session and one week after the third session end by Persian version of disability index . Results:the result s of variance analysis with reoeated measurements showed that the pahn severitv and neck disability index were significantly decreased and pain threshold was significantly increase ed in both of two shock wave and dry needle groups after threese ssions of treatment and one week after the last treatment session. There was no significant difference between two groups. Conclusion: shock wave and dry needles are effective in reducing the pain intensity and increasing the pain threshold of patients with upper trapezios muscle active trigger points . Considering thenon-invasiveness, shockwave can be the first treatment of trigger points.