Effects of dry needling in the sternocleidomastoid muscle on cervical motor control in patients with neck pain: a randomised clinical trial

To determine the changes produced by trigger point dry needling (TrP-DN) of sternocleidomastoid in patients with neck pain, and to observe how it might modify cervical motor control (CMC). Single-centre, randomised, double-blinded clinical trial. Participants were recruited through advertising. The duration of the study was 6？months. Thirty-four subjects with non-specific neck pain, aged over 18？years with an active myofascial trigger point in sternocleidomastoid, participated in the study. They were randomly assigned to treatment or control groups. TrP-DN inside or (1.5？cm) outside of the active myofascial trigger point of sternocleidomastoid. CMC, visual analogue scale and cervical range of motion were assessed before treatment, immediately post treatment, and 24？h, 1？week and 1？month after the intervention; the neck disability index was evaluated before treatment and 1？month later. With a confidence interval of 99%, TrP-DN of sternocleidomastoid was associated with a decrease in pain after 1？week and CMC improved 1？month after the intervention (p？<？0.001), when compared with baseline measurements, within the experimental group; there were no statistically significant differences between experimental and control groups. The effects of TrP-DN inside and outside of active myofascial trigger points did not differ in this study. Both interventions were associated with a similar temporal effect, specifically a reduction in neck pain at 1？week and an increase CMC at 1？month. However, these findings should be interpreted with caution due to the lack of a contemporaneous untreated control group