ArticleThe Korean journal of pain2025
Effectiveness of intramuscular electrical stimulation using conventional and inverse electrode placement methods on pressure pain threshold and electromyographic activity of the upper trapezius muscle with myofascial trigger points: a randomized clinical trial.
Article in The Korean journal of pain, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
What it found
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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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- Impact of Intramuscular Electrical Stimulation on Multifidus Muscle Function in Chronic Low Back Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Medical science monitor : international medical journal of experimental and clinical research · 2025Trial
- Hypoalgesic effects, safety, and feasibility of a 6-minute high-lung-volume static apnea intervention.The Korean journal of pain · 2026Article
- More rigorously and more transparently: recommendations for reporting statistical methods.The Korean journal of pain · 2026Article
- Effectiveness of Percutaneous Needle Electrolysis (PNE) and Intramuscular Electrical Stimulation (IMES) in the Management of Myofascial Pain Syndrome and Tendinopathies: A Systematic Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Review
- Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS), Interferential Current (IFC) and Percutaneous Needle Electrolysis (PNE) in the treatment of sports-related pain: a scoping review with an evidence gap map.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: This study investigates whether intramuscular electrical stimulation (IMES) with inverse electrode placement (IEP) or conventional electrode placement (CEP) more effectively modulates pain. The current study's aim was to compare the effects of IMES using IEP and CEP, and sham-IMES on the pressure pain threshold (PPT), EMG activity, upper trapezius (UT) muscle length and pain severity among adults with UT myofascial trigger points (MTrPs). Methods: Thirty-six male adults with UT-MTrPs were allocated into three groups. IEP, CEP and sham groups were respectively treated with a single IMES session using IEP, CEP, and sham-IMES. Pain intensity, PPT, EMG activity (root mean square, RMS) and UT muscle length were measured on day one before the treatment, day one post treatment and at a day three follow-up to determine the immediate and short-term effectiveness of IMES. Results: IMES using both IEP and CEP methods produced significant higher changes in UT-PPT (median, interquartile-interval, IEP group: 3.25, 2.56-3.50 and CEP group: 2.75, 1.75-3.00, vs. sham group: 1.07, 0.89-1.71 kg/cm Conclusions: Pain modulation can be effectively achieved using IMES regardless of electrode placement method, with different electrode configurations.
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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.