Trial reportJournal of geriatric physical therapy (2001)
Dry Needling on the Infraspinatus Latent and Active Myofascial Trigger Points in Older Adults With Nonspecific Shoulder Pain: A Randomized Clinical Trial.
Trial report in Journal of geriatric physical therapy (2001). The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT02032602 (Efficacy of Dry Needling on Myofascial Trigger Points in Adults Over 65 Years Old With Non-specific Shoulder Pain), which is not on this map. Cited by 28 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Efficacy of Dry Needling on Myofascial Trigger Points in Adults Over 65 Years Old With Non-specific Shoulder Pain: Single Blind Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial
Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 77 citations in OpenAlex.
- Efficacy of treatment for subacromial pain in older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis with GRADE recommendations.European geriatric medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Short-term effectiveness of dry needling on pain and ankle range of motion in athletes with medial tibial stress syndrome- a randomized control trial.The Journal of manual & manipulative therapy · 2025Trial
- Dry needling on latent and active myofascial trigger points versus oral diclofenac in patients with knee osteoarthritis: a randomized controlled trial.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2023Trial
- Effect of Dry Needling Treatment on Tibial Musculature in Combination with Neurorehabilitation Treatment in Stroke Patients: Randomized Clinical Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Trial
- Comparative Study of the Efficacy of Hyaluronic Acid, Dry Needling and Combined Treatment in Patellar Osteoarthritis-Single-Blind Randomized Clinical Trial.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Trial
- Short-term effects of two deep dry needling techniques on pressure pain thresholds and electromyographic amplitude of the lumbosacral multifidus in patients with low back pain - a randomized clinical trial.The Journal of manual & manipulative therapy · 2020Trial
- Trial
- The consistency of reporting adverse events associated with dry needling: a narrative review.The Journal of the Canadian Chiropractic Association · 2026Article
- Determining Pain Pressure Thresholds and Muscle Stiffness Cut-Offs to Discriminate Latent Myofascial Trigger Points and Asymptomatic Infraspinatus Muscle Locations: A Diagnostic Accuracy Study.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Experimental Pain Model Based on Short-Wave Diathermy Replicates the Intensity, Quality and Spatial Distribution of Chronic Shoulder Pain: A Parallel Group Validation Study.European journal of pain (London, England) · 2025Article
- Article
- Lack of standardization in dry needling dosage and adverse event documentation limits outcome and safety reports: a scoping review of randomized clinical trials.The Journal of manual & manipulative therapy · 2023Article
- Bibliometric and Visual Analysis in the Field of Dry Needling for Myofascial Pain Syndrome from 2000 to 2022.Journal of pain research · 2023Review
- Application of Acupuncture for Shoulder Pain Over the Past 22 Years: A Bibliometric Analysis.Journal of pain research · 2023Article
- Efficacy of Conservative Therapy in Overhead Athletes with Glenohumeral Internal Rotation Deficit: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of clinical medicine · 2022Review
- Immediate Effect of Dry Needling on the Viscoelastic Properties of a Trigger Point on the Infraspinatus Muscle Measured with MyotonPRO.Physiotherapy Canada. Physiotherapie Canada · 2022Article
- Progress of Muscle Chain Theory in Shoulder Pain Rehabilitation: Potential Ideas for Pulmonary Rehabilitation.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2022Review
- Pain threshold in selected trigger points of superficial muscles of the back in young adults.PeerJ · 2022Article
- Suggesting a mechanism for acupuncture as a global percutaneous needle fasciotomy that respects tensegrity principles for treating fibromyalgia.Frontiers in medicine · 2022Article
- Effects of Dry Needling in Teres Major Muscle in Elite Handball Athletes. A Randomised Controlled Trial.Journal of clinical medicine · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
background and purposeShoulder pain is a prevalent condition in older adults. Some authors associate nonspecific shoulder pain with myofascial trigger points (MTrPs) in the infraspinatus muscle. Dry needling is recommended to relieve the MTrP pain of shoulders in the short term (<9 days). Active MTrPs dry needling improves shoulder pain and the irritability of the satellite MTrPs in the referred pain area. Nociceptive activity at a latent MTrP may influence motor activity and the sensitivity of MTrPs in distant muscles at a similar segmental level. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate dry needling on 1 latent MTrP, in conjunction with 1 active MTrP, in the infraspinatus muscle of older adults with nonspecific shoulder pain.
methodsA single-center, randomized, single-blinded, controlled study (NCT02032602) was carried out. Sixty-six patients aged 65 years and older with trigger points in the ipsilateral infraspinatus of the painful shoulder were randomly assigned to (1) of (2) treatment groups. A session of dry needling on the infraspinatus was performed in (1) the most hyperalgesic active and latent MTrP or (2) only the most hyperalgesic active MTrP. The Numeric Rating Scale, the pressure pain threshold (primary outcome) on the anterior deltoid and extensor carpi radialis brevis latent MTrPs, and grip strength were assessed before, after, and 1 week after the intervention.
resultsStatistically significant differences in the reduction of pain intensity (P ≤ .001; η = 0.159-0.269; d = 1.017-1.219) and the increase of pressure pain threshold (P < .001; η = 0.206-0.481; d = 0.870-1.924) were found for the (1) treatment group immediately and 1 week postintervention. Nevertheless, no statistical significant differences were found in grip strength (P >. 05; η = 0.006-0.033; d = 0.158-0.368).
conclusionsOne dry needling intervention of the latent MTrP associated with the key active MTrP of the infraspinatus reduces pain intensity and the irritability of the satellite MTrPs located in the referred pain area in the short term in older adults with nonspecific shoulder pain.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.