ReviewJournal of clinical medicine2020
Effects of Trigger Point Dry Needling for the Management of Knee Pain Syndromes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Review in Journal of clinical medicine, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04804228 (Comparison of the Efficacy of Electrical Dry Needling Versus Traditional Physical Therapy in the Treatment of Active Myofascial Trigger Points in Pain, Sensitivity, Functionality and Quality of Life of Patients With Chronic Non-specific Low Back Pain), which is not on this map. Cited by 21 papers, 2 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.
Comparison of the Efficacy of Electrical Dry Needling Versus Traditional Physical Therapy in the Treatment of Active Myofascial Trigger Points in Pain, Sensitivity, Functionality and Quality of Life of Patients With Chronic Non-specific Low Back Pain
Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 49 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Durable Effects of Acupuncture for Knee Osteoarthritis: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Current pain and headache reports · 2024Pooled it
- 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
- The Influence of Verbal Suggestion on Post-Needling Soreness and Pain Processing after Dry Needling Treatment: An Experimental Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Trial
- 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
- A Predictive Exergy-Adaptive Genetic Algorithm for the Optimization of the DMR Liquefaction Process.ACS omega · 2025Article
- Efficacy of Myofascial Trigger Point Dry Needling in Treatment of Primary Dysmenorrhea: A Study Protocol for a Three-Arm Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of pain research · 2025Article
- Acupuncture Therapy for Extremity Musculoskeletal Pain: A Clinically Focused Evidence Synthesis with Therapeutic Implications.Journal of pain research · 2025Review
- Current Indications and Future Direction in Heat Therapy for Musculoskeletal Pain: A Narrative Review.Muscles (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- 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
- Clinical Effectiveness of Dry Needling in Patients with Musculoskeletal Pain-An Umbrella Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Review
- Dry needling for the treatment of acute myofascial pain syndrome in general practitioners' clinics: a cohort study.BMC primary care · 2022Article
- Effects of dry needling intervention on lower limb dysfunction after stroke: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial.BMJ open · 2022Article
- The Effectiveness of Dry Needling in Patients with Hip or Knee Osteoarthritis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Article
- Invasive Physiotherapy as a Treatment of Spasticity: A Systematic Review.Degenerative neurological and neuromuscular disease · 2022Review
- Effects of Dry Needling on Pain in Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis: A Preliminary Study.Advanced biomedical research · 2022Article
- Needling Interventions for the Management of Musculoskeletal Pain Syndromes.Journal of clinical medicine · 2021Article
- Dry needling curricula in entry-level education programs in the United States for physical therapists.The Journal of manual & manipulative therapy · 2021Article
- Physical Therapist Management of Anterior Knee Pain.Current reviews in musculoskeletal medicine · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundTo evaluate the effect of trigger point dry needling alone or as an adjunct with other interventions on pain and related disability in people with knee pain.
methodsSeveral electronic databases were searched for randomized controlled trials where at least one group received dry needling for knee pain. Studies had to include human subjects and collect outcomes on pain and pain-related disability in musculoskeletal knee pain. Data were extracted by two reviewers. The risk of bias was assessed by the Cochrane Guidelines, methodological quality was assessed with the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) score, and the quality of evidence by using the GRADE approach. Standardized mean differences (SMD) were calculated.
resultsTen studies (six patellofemoral pain, two knee osteoarthritis, two post-surgery knee pain) were included. The meta-analysis found moderate effect sizes of dry needling for reducing pain (SMD -0.53, 95% CI -0.87 to -0.19) and improving related disability (SMD -0.58, 95% CI -1.08 to -0.09) as compared to a comparison group at short-term. The main effect was observed for patellofemoral pain (SMD -0.64, 95% CI -1.17 to -0.11). No significant effects were observed at mid- or long-term follow-ups. The risk of bias was generally low, but the heterogenicity and the imprecision of the results downgraded the level of evidence.
conclusionLow to moderate evidence suggests a positive effect of trigger point dry needling on pain and related disability in patellofemoral pain, but not knee osteoarthritis or post-surgery knee pain, at short-term. More high-quality trials investigating long-term effects are clearly needed.
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.