Trial reportMedicine2018
Effects of dry needling in an exercise program for older adults with knee osteoarthritis: A pilot clinical trial.
Trial report in Medicine, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 4 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 21 papers, 3 of them syntheses 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.
Improvement in Pain and Function Following a Therapeutic Exercise Program and Dry Needling in Older Adults With Knee Osteoarthritis: A Randomized Double-blind Multicenter Controlled Clinical Trial
Comparative study of the efficacy of hyaluronic acid, dry needling and combined treatment in patellar osteoarthritis: non-controlled randomized clinical trial with blinded evaluator
Comparison of Integrated Neuromuscular Inhibition Technique and Dry Needling on Trigger Points in Patient With Knee Osteoarthritis
Effectiveness of Muscle Energy Techniques and Mulligan Mobilization Along With Conventional Physical Therapy in Knee Joint Osteoarthritis Patients: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 39 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Adjunctive therapies in addition to land-based exercise therapy for osteoarthritis of the hip or knee.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2022Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Effects of dry needling combined with exercise on knee osteoarthritis at 6 month follow up a randomized clinical trial.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Dry Needling in the Treatment of Myogenous Temporomandibular Joint Disorders.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2022Trial
- Trial
- Effects of Trigger Point Dry Needling on Neuromuscular Performance and Pain of Individuals Affected by Patellofemoral Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of pain research · 2020Trial
- Effectiveness of dry needling combined with exercise therapy versus exercise alone for pain and functional outcomes in knee osteoarthritis: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Therapeutic advances in musculoskeletal disease · 2026Article
- Therapeutic Potential of Acupuncture in Knee Osteoarthritis: Clinical Efficacy and Mechanistic Insights.Journal of inflammation research · 2025Review
- Analysis of Dry Needling Combined with an Exercise Program in the Treatment of Knee Osteoarthritis: A Randomized Clinical Trial.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
- Reliability of muscle stiffness measures in popliteus, medial and lateral gastrocnemius muscles by ultrasound shear wave elastography in participants with knee osteoarthritis accompanied by myofascial trigger points.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2024Article
- Is Exercise Rehabilitation an Effective Adjuvant to Clinical Treatment for Myofascial Trigger Points? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of pain research · 2023Review
- The Effectiveness of Dry Needling in Patients with Hip or Knee Osteoarthritis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Conservative treatment of knee osteoarthritis: A review of the literature.World journal of orthopedics · 2022Review
- Effects of Dry Needling on Pain in Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis: A Preliminary Study.Advanced biomedical research · 2022Article
- Cross-Sectional Brain-Predicted Age Differences in Community-Dwelling Middle-Aged and Older Adults with High Impact Knee Pain.Journal of pain research · 2022Article
- Effects of Trigger Point Dry Needling for the Management of Knee Pain Syndromes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of clinical medicine · 2020Review
- Effects of kinesiotape on pain, range of motion, and functional status in patients with osteoarthritis: a randomized controlled trial.Journal of exercise rehabilitation · 2019Article
- Trigger point dry needling for the treatment of myofascial pain syndrome: current perspectives within a pain neuroscience paradigm.Journal of pain research · 2019Article
- Rehabilitation following regenerative medicine treatment for knee osteoarthritis-current concept review.Journal of clinical orthopaedics and traumaReview
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 6 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundFew studies have investigated the dry needling (DN) approach on knee osteoarthritis (KO) patients. The study's aim was to evaluate the short-term efficacy of adding DN to a therapeutic exercise protocol in the treatment of KO in older adults.
methodsA double-blind, pilot clinical trial with parallel groups [NCT02698072] was carried out for 12 weeks of treatment and follow-up. Twenty patients aged 65 years and older with myofascial trigger points (MTrPs) in the muscles of the thigh were recruited from older-adult care centers and randomly assigned to a DN + Exercise group or a Sham-DN + Exercise group. The Numeric Rating Scale (NRS; primary outcome) and Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index questionnaire (WOMAC) were assessed before and after the intervention.
resultsThe NRS (analysis of variance, ANOVA) showed statistically significant differences in the time factor (F = 53.038; P < .0001; ηp = 0.747). However, it did not show a significant change in the group-time interaction (F = 0.082; P = .777; ηp = 0.005). The WOMAC scores (ANOVA) showed statistically significant differences in the time factor for total score WOMAC questionnaire (F = 84.826; P < .0001; ηp = 0.825), WOMAC pain (F = 90.478; P < .0001; ηp = 0.834), WOMAC stiffness (F = 14.556; P < .001; ηp = 0.447), and WOMAC function (F = 70.872; P < .0001; ηp = 0.797). However, it did not show a statistically significant change in the group-time interaction.
conclusionDespite the pain intensity and disability clinically relevant improvement for both DN and Sham-DN combined with exercise, 6 sessions of DN added to a therapeutic exercise program for older adults with KO did not seem to improve pain intensity and functionality.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.