OBJECTIVE: To compare the effects of electrical dry needling with a non-invasive multi-component intervention in patients with chronic low back pain. DESIGN: A randomised single-blind clinical trial. SETTING: Outpatient Physiotherapy Clinic; home. PARTICIPANTS: Sixty-four patients with chronic low back pain aged 30 to 65 years. INTERVENTIONS: Six-week electrical dry needling on myofascial trigger points, and a non-invasive multicomponent intervention (home exercise programme, stretching and ischemic compression). MAIN MEASURES: Pain (Visual Analogue Scale), disability (Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire and Oswestry Disability Index), kinesiophobia (Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia), quality of life and sleep (Short Form 36 item Health Survey and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index), isometric endurance of trunk flexor muscles (McQuade test), lumbar mobility in flexion (finger-to-floor distance), and pressure pain threshold (algometer) were assessed at baseline, after 6 weeks, and after 2 months. RESULTS: ANOVA showed statistically significant differences in group-by-time interaction for most pain pressure thresholds of myofascial trigger points (p < 0.05), for disability (Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire F = 6.14, p = 0.016; and Oswestry Disability Index F = 7.36, p = 0.009), for trunk anteflexion (F = 10.03, p = 0.002) and for habitual sleep efficacy (F = 6.65, p = 0.012), use of hypnotics (F = 4.77, p = 0.033) and total score of quality of sleep (F = 8.23, p = 0.006). CONCLUSIONS: In comparison to a non-invasive multicomponent intervention, electrical dry needling has more positive effects on disability, pain intensity, kinesiophobia, and reducing patients' sensitivity to myofascial trigger points pressure, at post-treatment and at 2 months. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT04804228. Registered on May 28th, 2021. Available at https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04804228.

Full text (sometimes free) may be available at these link(s):      help

• DOI
• PubMed
• PDF locator
• publisher